Women’s march into India Inc’s corner offices has had a momentary blip this year, according to a study by Avtar Career Creators Ltd in partnership with US-based workforce research and advisory firm Seramount.
The 11th edition of the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) study, women now hold only 16.7% of corporate executive roles among Best Companies, down from 20% in 2025.
Overall women’s representation among Best Companies dropped to 34.6% this year, down from 35.7% in 2025.
The Top 10 companies, however, remained relatively resilient, with women making up 42.8% of their workforce.
After 11 years of tracking women’s participation and advancement at work, the latest findings point to a worrying reversal: progress in gender diversity, particularly at senior levels, cannot be assumed to be linear or permanent.
