The corner office in India Inc is still very much a male preserve, a new study has found.

In an online study titled Women on Board 2012 , MyHiringClub.com and NriJobPortal.com have found India ranks 30th amongst the 44 nations surveyed in terms of the percentage of women on company boards.

The study found only a third of Indian companies have women directors.

Overall, the percentage of women directors on boards is 6.69 per cent among publicly listed Indian companies. Even this marks a modest 1.43 per cent improvement over the previous year. While more than 30 per cent of the team strength in India Inc is female, only 15 per cent of women employees are in senior executive roles. Mr Rajesh Kumar, CEO, MyHiringClub.com & NriJobPortal.com, says, “When it comes to closing the gender gap among top leadership posts in India Inc, women started making significant gains in 2011. In 2011, women held 21.1 per cent of executive positions at Fortune 500 companies and 9 per cent of executive positions in others.”

Norway lead the table with the highest percentage of women on company boards (37.01 per cent), followed by Sweden (26.32 per cent). Saudi Arabia was at the bottom in the 44th position. The study covered a total of 36,542 listed companies worldwide. In India, 1,459 listed employers participated in the study.

> Heena.k@thehindu.co.in

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