India Inc prefers external hires for C-suite roles, women lag: CIEL report | Industry News

“India does not have a shortage of leaders. It has a shortage of pathways. When five of every six CXO roles go to outsiders, it is high time that companies invest proactively in succession planning. The GCC model shows that a different structure is possible,” said Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director and chief executive officer of CIEL HR.

The report mapped 630,000 leaders in director, vice-president, senior vice-president, executive vice-president and CXO roles. It also found that chief titles are mainly concentrated in six major cities, and fewer than 40 senior leaders have listed generative AI as a skill.

CEO-heavy, bench-light C-suite

Chief executive officers make up 47.5 per cent of India’s C-suite, with 38,000 roles. On average, each CEO has just 1.11 other chiefs at the table, compared with five to eight in most large markets. The report says this means most Indian CEOs have very few internal candidates from whom to pick a successor.

About one-third of CEOs have less than 10 years of total career experience, which suggests that many are founders running companies they started. Among India’s chief executives, 83.7 per cent of these 38,000 roles were filled by external hires, and 88.7 per cent are in the role for the first time. Only 4.2 per cent moved up directly from a vice-president role.

The layer just below the CXOs is thin. India has two vice-presidents per chief role, whereas most large markets have three to five.

Six cities, 94 per cent of CXO titles

Six metros hold 66.7 per cent of India’s senior leaders and 94 per cent of its CXO titles. Eight tier-2 cities, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kochi and Indore, together have 76,000 senior leaders but only about 1,800 CXO roles. Bengaluru has only 10.9 per cent of India’s leaders and has 1,800 emerging-tech leaders, the highest among the six metros.

Unexpected routes to the corner office

Strategy, Corporate Development and M&A accounts for just 0.2 per cent of the leadership pool but 2 per cent of all CXOs (all C-suite-level leaders). That is a conversion rate of 6.67 times its size, the highest of any function. Finance, a common route to CEO in other countries, under-converts at 0.68 in India. BFSI holds 9.2 per cent of India’s leaders but only 1.8 per cent of its CEOs. The MBA also loses its advantage at the top: MBA holders rise from 21.8 per cent of directors to 38.4 per cent of SVPs, then drop to 19.7 per cent of CEOs.

Women lose ground at the final step

While the share of women falls to 9.6 per cent in the C-suite and 8.7 per cent among CEOs, 37.1 per cent of CHROs are women, compared with only 6 per cent of CTOs. Women are actually promoted internally more often than men, at 28.3 per cent against 23.5 per cent.

The CHRO role also has the highest turnover in the C-suite. Some 32.5 per cent of CHROs have been in their role for under two years, and the role turns over about 16 times faster than the CEO role.

GCCs show a different model

Global capability centres (GCCs) account for about 14,500 leaders, or 2.3 per cent of the market, and they stand out on almost every measure. They have eight vice-presidents per chief role against two nationally. They promote internally 43 per cent of the time, against 22 per cent at Indian enterprises. Women make up 22.9 per cent of their leadership, against 12.8 per cent at Indian enterprises.