Articles

2024 India Proxy Season Review

Below are key takeaways from ISS’ recently released 2024 India Proxy Season Review.

  • AGM calendar: September remained the peak month for AGMs. Of the 1,343 AGMs held in the 2024 season, 47 percent were held in September.  
  • Agenda Items: With the transition period ending in 2024, there was a 79-percent increase in resolutions related to independent director appointments, compared to 2023. 
  • Overboarding: There has been a consistent decline, over the past three years, in the average number of external directorships in listed companies held by directors. Less than 1 percent of directors are currently serving on more than six boards. 
  • Women in leadership roles: While the appointment of women to executive or board leadership positions has been slow, it is steadily increasing. Currently, 9 out of 100 executive positions are held by women. 
  • Gender diversity: The number of women in corporate boardrooms has increased steadily over the last decade, reaching 20 percent in 2024 compared to less than 10 percent in 2013. 
  • Board refreshment: Median board independence improved from 45 percent to 50 percent in 2024, with companies replacing tenured independent directors at the end of the transition period.  
  • Shareholder dissent: Proposals receiving more than 20 percent dissent votes saw a c.48 percent jump over the previous year. Significant dissent was observed regarding resolutions related to compensation, director election and related-party transactions.  
  • Group association: Some companies have been rotating independent directors across holding and subsidiary companies, replacing directors with their family members (for example, fathers with sons), and appointing former employees as independent directors. Such appointments are not aligned with the spirit of the regulations.

The full report is available to institutional subscribers by logging into ProxyExchange then selecting the Knowledge Center and its Library tab and to corporate subscribers by logging into Compass then selecting Governance and the Governance Library or Governance Exchange tab. 

If you are not a subscriber, please contact sales@iss-stoxx.com (for institutional investors) or contactus@isscorporatesolutions.com (for corporations) to learn more about accessing bespoke governance research.

Authored By

ISS India Research Team

See More

Related Insights

See All

The products and services described on this website are provided by entities within the ISS STOXX group and may be subject to different regulatory frameworks. These entities are separate, but affiliated, subsidiaries of ISS STOXX GmbH.

Stewardship Solutions, which consists of ISS STOXX Governance and ISS STOXX Sustainability, are provided exclusively by Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS Inc.”) an Investment Adviser registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. ISS Inc. provides its investment advisory services exclusively to institutional clients and does not serve the retail marketplace at this time. Additional information about ISS Inc., including its advisory services, fees, and conflict mitigation practices, is available in ISS’ Form ADV which is accessible through the SEC’s website at sec.gov and also our Compliance page.

All solutions under Indices including STOXX services, such as indices and benchmark data, are provided by STOXX Ltd. and are governed by the EU Benchmark Regulation.

The solutions listed below, which are offered by ISS Market Intelligence, are provided by Asset International Inc and/or its subsidiaries, and are not considered investment advisory services under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

ISS Market Intelligence’s class action solutions are provided by Securities Class Action Services, LLC and are not considered investment advisory services under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

ISS-Corporate services are provided by ISS Corporate Solutions, Inc. These services are not considered investment advisory services under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

This communication and all of the information contained in it, including without limitation all text, data, graphs and charts, is the property of ISS STOXX GmbH and/or its subsidiaries and is provided for informational purposes only. The information may not be modified, reproduced or redisseminated, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from ISS STOXX. All statistics referenced in this document are approximate and updated on an annual basis and, unless otherwise noted, relate to the year ending December 31, 2025.

None of the information included in this communication constitutes an offer to sell (or a solicitation of an offer to buy), or a promotion or recommendation of, any security, financial product or other investment vehicle, and ISS STOXX does not endorse or approve any issuer, securities, financial products.

ISS STOXX MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION.

©2026 ISS STOXX and/or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.