A new study out of the University of Northern British Columbia is shaking up the top corporations of one of the world’s most populous nations. According to recent research out of UNBC, the boards of India’s top 1000 corporations are almost completely filled with traditionally “upper-class” castes that make up only a small percentage of the country’s overall population. The study has confirmed what many in India had suspected and has already made headlines in India in news outlets such as BBC India, Indian Business Magazine Economic Times, and New Delhi TV.
 
“In North America, we usually discuss matters of diversity in terms of gender or ethnicity. In India, diversity means caste,” says UNBC Economics professor Ajit Dayanandan, the study’s lead author. “I would refer to it as an ‘old boy’s network’ except, rather than excluding women or minorities, they exclude ‘lesser’ castes.”

Historically, the Indian Caste system involves Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (warriors), Viasya (merchants and landowners, and Sudra (commoners). According to Dr. Dayanandan’s study, these “forward castes” make up 93% of India’s corporate boards, which is grossly divergent from their share of the total population of India.
 
"The results show that the Indian corporate sector is a small and closed world," says Dr. Dayanandan. “This is problematic for the world’s largest democracy because there is substantial research indicating that the more ethnically divided society is, the less able it is to provide public services and infrastructure on a cooperative basis. In sum, the different groups compete with one another for political and economic power to the exclusion of the others.”
 
Dr. Dayanandan, UNBC Commerce professor Han Donker, and UNBC MBA student Ravi Saxena profiled board members of the top 1,000 Indian firms - private and state-owned - that accounted for four-fifths of the market capitalization of companies listed on India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in 2010.
 
“Dr. Dayanandan’s research is important because it shows that corporate India, which has presented itself as a modern and progressive answer to India's image as a backward society, is also corrupted by this disease of caste,” says Divya Rajagopal, a reporter for the Economic Times. “If Corporate India is the ambassador of a new India, they have to address this issue of caste, gender, and religious diversity in their boardrooms. This is why UNBC’s research is important: it pushes corporate India to take the onus of bringing inclusivity to their companies.”

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