Bengaluru Leads in Diversity Representation Among tier-1 Indian Cities: Report

According to a recent report on gender diversity by Pure Storage and Zinnov, Bengaluru leads among tier-1 cities in India in diversity representation.

The report found that diversity is around 31.4% in Global Capacity Centres (GCCs) based in the city and 14% in deeptech companies.

The report titled, ‘Towards a Gender Equitable World: Unveiling Diversity in DeepTech,’ highlights the need for greater focus on university enrolment in STEM courses and workplace retention to address the low representation of women in the DeepTech sector.

The report analyses women engineering graduates between 2004 and 2023 from 42 top engineering universities leveraged by GCCs for recruitment, with particular emphasis on 23 top institutions deemed to be preferred by DeepTech companies.

Moreover, it also highlights that the ongoing gender disparity is largely due to two main factors: a shortage of women’s enrolment in these institutions and a significant rate of mid to senior-level dropouts within the industry.

Some of the other key takeaways from the report include:

GCCs are leading the charge for a diverse workforce with 28% women in their workforce, yet they face unique challenges in achieving gender parity in DeepTech organizations, where the gender diversity stands at 23%​.

The median representation of women graduates from top engineering universities stands at 25% between 2020 and 2023, which directly affects the inflow of women candidates in GCCs, especially in the deeptech sector.

Despite this disparity in women’s representation, women graduates consistently outperformed in securing placements compared to the overall average in top-tier universities.

With a mere 6.7% of women at the Executive level in GCCs and 5.1% in deeptech organisations, there is a considerable decrease in the available talent pool of women as they move up their careers.

Family and caregiving responsibilities, limited access to career advancement and leadership opportunities, poor work-life balance are some of the key factors influencing women’s attrition.