India Inc's gender problem

The glass ceiling is firmly in place in Indian companies largely because of their own poor corporate governance practices

Though American companies have many well-known women CEOs, there are not many in India. Except a few promoter-led companies like Biocon or Thermax which have women leaders, there are hardly any women professionals who get the top job. None of the big groups, among them Reliance Industries, Tatas, Adanis and Mittals, have women leaders at the top level. 

On International Women’s Day, writing in his blog, Infosys CEO & MD, Vishal Sikka expressed his disappointment over women not making to top executive positions in Infosys despite accounting for half the number of trainees. Sikka also set a target of having 25% women in leadership roles at Infosys by 2020. 

It’s indeed a commendable target and a noble thought. But when it comes to other Indian companies, women are often treated worse.  Forget outsiders, most Indian promoters do not even allow their daughters to take up the top position, When a daughter is persistent, she is often given the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or corporate communications portfolio. In many companies, even when a promoter has anointed his daughter as CEO, she is often bypassed on crucial decisions. In fact, the chances of a son-in-law getting the top job are far higher among Indian companies than a daughter. 

There are very few cases of a woman CEO in India, with banking being a notable exception in the past decade or so. 

So what’s the problem? I asked a few some promoters and this is what they have to say, off the record, of course. 

“Many a time, our staff has to meet government officials (to get orders) and they ask for bribes or other favours.  With women, they are not comfortable,” said one.

“We throw parties, off-sites for tax officials, government officials or bankers. They do not prefer women around when they are having fun,” said another. 

A third said “It’s an open secret that Indian companies deal with a lot of cash. The promoters prefer those people who can take the risk of going to jail.” 

The recent corporate scandal that involved the theft of documents from Union ministries shows how far Indian companies can go to get their hands on crucial information.  The 2G scam and coal scam just shows how risky the business environment has become in India, say CEOs. 

So what’s the solution? 

Some of the corporate leaders feel that women making it to the corner room will take more time, and that includes the infotech industry.  So does a quota for women makes sense? A 30% quota at the Board level was approved by the German Parliament last week.  Supporters say this will improve corporate governance levels of European companies which, till now, have had a poor track record.  Nearer home in Gujarat, the state government has reserved 33% of jobs in police for women. 

Various political parties are already asking for a quota for lower castes and CEOs say they will offer jobs to them only if they get tax breaks. When asked about a quota on women, CEOs say they do not mind offering quotas as long as they get tax breaks.  But with this, a company’s profits will go to their own employees instead to the government’s tax kitty and will not help nation building.

One solution is to increase corporate governance standards among Indian companies. If a company stops giving a bribe or favours to bankers, tax officials or to the regulators, it will help women employees to go up the ladder on merit. But knowing how India Inc works, that will certainly be a long way to go.

(Dev Chatterjee is Corporate Editor at Business Standard)