Women Sought on Boards as Stiletto Groups Grow: Corporate India

Egon Zehnder International, an executive search firm, is getting three times as many calls as last year at its Mumbai office from Indian companies seeking women for board positions, spurred by a new law.

Enacted in August by India’s parliament, the Companies Act requires every listed company to have at least one female director within a year, while others reporting minimum revenue of 3 billion rupees ($49 million) have three years to comply. The legislation and a scramble for qualified candidates are spawning girls-only networking forums through which they mentor and recommend each other, much like their Wall Street peers.