Does Gender Diversity of Boards Affect Performance? Evidence from Indian Banking Sector

The lack of women directors in the upper rungs of the corporate has been a cause for concern for the social reformers, policy makers and stakeholders. The ever sensitive issue of gender diversity has been revisited in the Indian context in the special case of banking sector. The paper investigates the impact of women directors on the Indian banks' performance using Return on Assets (ROA) as a measure of performance. Using panel data analysis for 36 scheduled banks operating in India over a span of four years, the paper investigates the effect of women directors on bank's performance. The results highlight a strong statistical negative association between female directorship and performance measured through ROA, which defies the theories of ethics and economics. The results, though pave way for further investigations, undoubtedly establish women as important influencers of performance of banks