No woman director at 15 PSUs: Govt

As many as 15 public sector firms including ONGC and Indian Oil Corporation have failed to comply with regulator Sebi's norms to appoint at least one woman director on their respective boards till December 13, Parliament was informed today.
All listed firms were required to have at least one woman director on their boards from April 1, 2015 , as per a new Sebi directive, as also under the Companies Act, 2013.
These rule are aimed at ensuring gender diversity in boardrooms.
As on December 13, 2016, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, GAIL, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Scooters India, MMTC and Fertilisers & Chemicals Travancore have not appointed women directors on their board, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Other non-complaint firms are State Trading Corporation of India, Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Company, Bharat Immunologicals & Biologicals Corp, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers and Neyveli Lignite Corporation, he added.
The Minister said that 169 and 1,106 companies listed on the NSE and BSE respectively had not appointed women directors as on September 30, this year.
Acting against listed firms without a mandatory woman director, Sebi in April 2015 had announced a minimum Rs 50,000 fine and warned of further action, including against promoters and directors, if they remain non-compliant beyond six months.
The markets watchdog announced a four-stage penalty structure wherein fines would increase with the passage of time. It had asked the stock exchanges to levy the fines as the violation relates the Listing Agreement.