Women directors News

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who has worked with women directors like Farah Khan and Gauri Shinde, has said that the cinematic aesthetics of women filmmakers make his job easy as an actor.

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha also informed the Lok Sabha that 24 listed public sector companies do not have a woman director.

Top bourse BSE has issued notices to 530 companies with regard to imposition of fines for not complying with Sebi norms to appoint at least one woman director on their respective boards within the prescribed timelines.

To ensure parity between listed PSUs and their private sector peers, regulator SEBI has asked the government to fill all vacancies for women and independent directors at the central public sector enterprises.

For fast-track clampdown on erring firms, markets watchdog SEBI has decided to lay out strict timelines for completion of actions and create a central database of monitoring systems in the current fiscal.

Without naming the companies that failed to appoint at least one woman director within the stipulated deadline of March 31, Sebi announced a four-stage penalty structure wherein fines would increase with the passage of time.

A large number of listed firms, including some state-run entities, may face regulatory action by Sebi and stock exchanges after failing to appoint at least one woman director on their respective boards.

Within days of regulator Sebi's barb, listed companies have begun running from pillar to post to appoint women directors on their respective boards with at least 50 such appointments being made Tuesday itself.

Nearly half of the NSE-listed companies are yet to appoint a woman director on their board even as the October 1 deadline for compliance with SEBI's requirement in this regard is only a month away.

The Companies Act, 2013 , makes it mandatory for public and private firms with an annual turnover of $50 million) to have at least one female director by Oct. 1, 2014.