8 NOVEMBER2023INFOCUSINFOCUSIndia's Companies Act 2013 mandated the inclusion of at least one female director on corporate boards. However, despite a decade since this mandate, progress towards achieving gender parity at the board level remains slow.Recent data reveals that, on average, Nifty-500 companies have only one female director, highlighting the challenges of increasing gender diversity in India's corporate leadership. This falls significantly short of international benchmarks and the UK government's goal of achieving 40percent female representation on FTSE-350 company boards by 2025.Out of the Nifty-500, 223 companies, or 45percent, have only one female director, as required by law. However, this single mandatory appointment doesn't necessarily translate into greater gender diversity in boardrooms. Large companies are particularly lagging in this regard, with 81 of them having just one female director among ten or more board members.For instance, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), a prominent Indian multinational, has just one female director on its 19-member board. This underrepresentation persists due to various factors, including boards' tendencies to hire independent directors, who are typically individuals they have prior interactions with and are more likely to be men. As a result, women directors are often appointed primarily due to legal mandates, rather than proactive diversity efforts.The lack of experienced female directors further complicates the issue. In India, the pool of qualified women willing to take up directorships remains relatively small, and they face hurdles in gaining the necessary board experience.The study also reveals a disparity in women's representation in senior management. While there have been efforts to improve gender diversity, the majority of organizations report less than 20percent female representation at these levels. The study finds that greater female representation occurs when the CEO is directly responsible for diversity and inclusion efforts.Efforts to achieve gender parity in corporate leadership require greater initiative, both from the government and multinational corporations. The slow progress highlights the need for comprehensive strategies to promote diversity and inclusivity in boardrooms, beyond mere compliance with legal mandates. Reltio is a next-generation MDM solution platform that provides Master Data Management system capabilities such as Identity Resolution, Data Quality, University ID, and more.On Thursday, 19 October, Reltio announced the appointment of Vidhi Chugh as Head of Product Management for the AI/ML Solutions as a part of its expanded focus on enhancing its offerings with artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities. The strategic hiring of Vidhi Chugh demonstrates Reltio's commitment to AI/ML innovation and also to push the boundaries. Ms. Vidhi will take charge of Reltio's AI/ML roadmap with a focus on improving the resources including entity resolution using pre-trained machine models and anomaly detection.Manish Sood, Reltio's Founder and CEO welcomed Vidhi to the team. He stated that, together they will accelerate the journey of AI/ML innovation to deliver great improvements for the customers. He further said that AI/ML has been the crucial aspect of Reltio's vision for innovation, and in the present time the company is reshaping the landscape of India unification for business across all major industries by seamlessly integrating pre-trained ML models and AI-powered functionalities.Ms. Vidhi has a great experience in AI. She gained this from earlier workplaces Walmart, Blue Yonder; Yatra, and All About Scale where she advised 500 companies on scalable AI initiatives.She will bring experience in Data governance, scalable machine learning systems, and ethical AI practices to the Reltio team. Ms. Vidhi has co-authored 11 US patents and has received numerous awards including Blue Yonder 2020 Most Outstanding Innovation Award for machine learning research. She was recognized as an Influential AI Changemaker and also featured in Women in Analytics' Women to Watch list where she grabbed a Global Woman Achiever Award, Next 100 CIO Award in 2023, and Indian Achievers Award. She has been also named as one of the World's Top 200 Businesses and Technology Innovators and received the prestigious Global AI Inclusion Award. INDIA INC STRUGGLES TO ACHIEVE GENDER PARITY IN BOARDROOMSVIDHI CHUGH NAMED RELTIO'S HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
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