A total of 387 companies participated this year, of which 125 made it to the Best Companies list. The participating organizations span a diverse range of industries. Of the Best Companies, 37 per cent are Indian companies and 63 per cent are MNCs.
The decline in women’s representation comes even as Top 10 companies held steadier at 42.8 per cent. After eleven years of steady gains, the data sends a clear message: progress cannot be taken for granted, the study noted.
“If the trend severely impacts the number of women employed in India, then I believe that is a huge concern for the government,” Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Managing Director, Avtar Career Creators said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Rajesh said that the decline comes amid a global pullback in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts following an executive order issued by US President Donald Trump in January 2025. She argued that multinational companies operating in India need an India-specific strategy focused on increasing women’s participation in the workforce.
She suggested that the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry could examine the issue. She also said Avtar was ready to prepare a policy guideline or white paper on practices companies could continue to follow in India.
The 11th edition of the BCWI study covers 26,53,741 professionals, including 9,18,531 women, across more than 22 industries. The study tracks workforce profile, recruitment, retention, advancement, attrition, safety, parental benefits, work-life programmes and company culture.
Share of women in Corporate Executive roles fell to 16.7 per cent among Best Companies this year, down from 20 per cent in 2025, the study said.
Rajesh said women’s leadership representation, which had increased consistently in previous years, has now fallen back to a level recorded in 2022.
She described the reversal as a “cautious and extremely worrying trend”, particularly as artificial intelligence is affecting jobs and, in her assessment, having a sharper impact on women.
The participation of Indian companies in the benchmark, meanwhile, has increased, with their share rising from 25 per cent in 2021 to 37 per cent in 2026.
According to the study, India-headquartered companies recorded lower women’s representation at 31.4 per cent, compared with 41.1 per cent in American-headquartered companies and 39.2 per cent in other-foreign-headquartered companies operating in India. The gap widening further up the ladder, where women hold just 14.2 per cent of Corporate Executive roles versus 18 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
Within India itself, women’s representation is strongest in South Indian metros: Bengaluru (41.1 per cent), Chennai (39.1 per cent) and Hyderabad (38.9 per cent), while Delhi-NCR lags at just 28.5 per cent, nearly 12 percentage points below the highest-performing city.
The study also examined why women and men leave organizations. Attrition rates among Best Companies converge closely for both genders, at 20.4 per cent each. Access to better job opportunities remains the No. 1 reason to quit, cited by 89 per cent of women and 93 per cent of men.
Health and wellbeing related challenges emerge as a bigger reason for women to exit than childcare responsibilities, a pattern that has now held for a second consecutive year.
The Top 10 Best Companies for Women in India are Accenture Solutions, AXA XL, Barclays, EY, HDFC Life Insurance Company, Lear Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Tech Mahindra, TVS Motor Company and Vedanta Oil and Gas.
The Top 10 Best Companies for Workplace Wellness are Accenture, Axis Bank, CGI, EY, HCLTech, HDFC Life Insurance, Infini, Omega, Tech Mahindra and Wipro. The Best Companies for ESG list includes ABB, Aptiv, Bosch, HCL, Infosys, Lear Corporation, Solenis, Tech Mahindra and Vedanta.
