Muslims fare badly in upper echelons, mere 3% of India Inc population

Muslims may comprise 14% of India’s population but when it comes to their presence at directors and senior executive levels in India Inc, the figures do not even enter a double digit.

An ET Intelligence Group analysis pointed out that Muslims constituted a mere 2.67% of directors and senior executives - 62 of the 2,324 executives - among the BSE 500 companies, which corresponds to almost 93% of the m-cap on the stock exchange.

Also, these top executives took home 3.14% of the total remuneration drawn by this group.

However, as per the analysis, the Muslim employment figure in senior management for BSE-100 companies, in comparison, goes up slightly to 4.60% - 27 of 587 - of total directors and senior executives, though the remuneration drops to 2.56%.

ET reported that the Muslim minority doesn't yet figure on the radar of corporate India. Even the Affirmative Action (AA) framework is largely focused on the Dalits.

Affirmative action is all about handholding through education, skills or employability programmes and could mean positive discrimination in hiring.

In government jobs also, the share of Muslims is less.

"Muslims are the most deprived in the jobs market; their condition is worse than even the scheduled tribes (STs) in urban areas," Amitabh Kundu, visiting professor at the New Delhi-based Institute for Human Development (IHD), told the financial daily.

Kundu had steered the Post-Sachar Evaluation Committee, also known as the Kundu Committee, which examined the socio-economic condition of the Muslims in India.

The committee examined the Muslim community on several counts, including, income, monthly per capita consumption expenditure, and access to health, education and basic services.

"A Muslim woman lives longer than a Hindu woman in the same income bracket," Kundu said.

Meanwhile, Farhad Forbes of the Pune-based Forbes Marshall group and Chairman, CII National Committee on Affirmative Action, said that all of the private sector's affirmative action programmes are designed for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Forbes is certain that it's time for the private sector to begin to seriously examine the minority situation.

(Image: reuters)