Some of the companies have given the specious argument that there is not enough talent available in India. The truth is India has a huge pool of talented women professionals waiting to be identified and given an opportunity to bring value to its boardrooms.Companies with greater gender diversity not only do well financially, but are also characterised by better leadership, accountability, innovation, operational efficiency and a motivational work culture. If India Inc needs more validation, it should check a recent Randstad study of the top 100 Indian companies (BSE 100) that showed companies with women on their boards having performed better.
The study showed that the board of a private sector company, run by a professional CEO with a mix of both men and women, helped Return on Equity (ROE) rise by 4.4% in 2014. In contrast, a similar company with a men-only board saw its ROE rise by a mere 1.8% in the same period.