On the occasion of International Women’s Day, retained executive search firm Venator Search Partners conducted a study to understand the presence of women in the NBFC & MFI space. The study found that women constituted a mere 12.5% of a 250-person leadership team in the pool of NBFC & MFI’s studies, and a similar percentage was found in a 113-person leadership team in Microfinance institutions. The study covered the top 25 NBFCs and 10 Microfinance institutions. The number of women in leadership positions in NBFCs and MFIs in India is half of the global average of 24%. Globally women occupy only about 24% of executive roles in financial institutions, which is still an under-representation.

The study found that 12 of the 25 NBFCs, and 2 of the 10 Microfinance institutions had no women in their leadership team. The study further showed that a large part of the senior women workforce was leading HR functions. Of the 42 women in leadership roles, roughly 30% are leading the HR function, the study found. Other business support functions, specifically Compliance, Secretarial, and Legal saw 11 people, comprised about 25% of the leadership roles. Business, operations, finance, and risk functions did not have much representation from women in leadership roles in NBFCs and MFIs.

Ironically, the end customer base for micro lending institutions are women. While they lend to millions of women entrepreneurs, women employees with MFIs are significantly low.

"The poor representation of women in leadership does not in any way suggest a lack of capability or potential. We have many success stories of women entrepreneurs in microfinance like Kalpana Sankar of Belstar, Purvi Bhavsar of Pahal Financial, Padmaja Reddy of Spandana Sphoorty and Ananya Birla of Svatantra Microfin & many others, who have started and grown NBFC & MFIs,” said Bharati Mujumdar, Director Operations at Venator Search Partners.

With strong capabilities and sharp minds, women in the corner office not only bring about a different perspective to decision making but also send a signal of inclusive leadership and showcase them as role models. It is well acknowledged that the BFSI industry has witnessed remarkable transformation with regards to women at all levels.

Many organisations have had women leaders at the helm, including SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Aditya Birla Capital, HDFC Life Insurance, etc. ICICI Bank was one such organisation that encouraged women at leadership positions. This allowed a very large number of successful women CEOs to industry and industry bodies.

 “As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is important to think about how we encourage more & more lady stalwarts in our financial organisations. Women are entrepreneurial and they should make a fair share of representation in the leadership. Targeted leadership development programs, mentoring, and creating inclusive work environments and family support systems will go a long way to providing equal opportunities to women,” she added.