Caste and corporate directorships in India

The present study examines the diversity of corporate board structures in India based a sample of top 1,000 companies listed in Indian stock exchanges for 2010. In the study we examined diversity in terms of (a) caste, (b) gender and (c) independence of the board - proportion of outside directors to inside directors. The analysis shows that caste diversity virtually is non-existent. Nearly 65 per cent of the Indian corporate board members are from one caste group- forward caste. The representation of other caste groups (backward caste and lower caste) is virtually non-existent. This is given the fact that nearly 75 per cent of the Indian population and clientele of these companies are from these lowly represented caste groups. The lack of diversity is also reflected in gender as well. There is very low representation to women in Indian corporate board rooms. On the other hand, the board independence is relatively better but far from corporate board structures in advanced countries. The above analysis clearly brings out the huge disparity of Indian corporate board rooms in terms of caste diversity. Still Indian corporate boards belong to the ' old boys club' based on caste affiliation rather than based on other considerations (like merit or experience). Caste discrimination is related to hierarchical and hereditary allocation of jobs and composition of corporate boards in India continues to reflect that bias which is otherwise documented extensively in other areas like education, hiring process etc. --P. iii.