India has witnessed an increase in the women participation and leadership in corporate realm in the past few years. Many companies have institutionalized practices to boost the representation of women in senior, leadership and executive positions. According to a report by Avatar Group, a diversity, equity and inclusion consulting firm, women's participation in corporate leadership moved to 18 percent in 2021 from 14 percent in 2020 in the IT/ITeS sector. In the manufacturing sector, it almost doubled to nine percent from five percent in 2020. But still, India lags much behind its Western and Asian peers by a wide margin in the statistics related presence of women on boards.

Female representation in large Indian companies has increased by 5.9 percentage points from 11.4 percent in 2015 to 17.3 percent in 2021. But still, it is much below the global average of 24 percent, and taking the case since 2014, out of every 100 CEOs And Managing Directors of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange, only about three are women. These statistics reveal that after all initiatives and programs undertaken by corporate companies for the inclusion of women on boards, the change has been negligible. Women labour force are mostly found in entry level than in middle and senior level. This shows that there is a strong barrier of glass ceiling holding them back.

There are many untold stories of women who are innovative, courageous, and adaptive to change that have gone long way in business and corporate jobs with determination, leadership and high business skills. We are bringing into spotlight some of their stories which could be an inspiration to women all over the world.

In this issue, the Women Entrepreneur magazine brings into spotlight a list of 'Top 10 Women CEOs in India - 2021' who are torchbearers of success. The list has been crafted by a team of CEOs, VCs and the Women Entrepreneur editorial team, thus delivering inspiring stories of their journey and the contributions & roles played by them in the creation and empowerment of a powerful nation.