Opening the floor for nominations of the second edition of 100 Best Companies for Women in India; an initiative that benchmarks India Inc’s women inclusive practices. The program will study and evaluate the policies of companies based on several parameters such as women’s recruitment, parental leave, safety & security, flexible work and more. 

The initiative is organized by AVTAR Group in association with the US Based Working Mother Media, leading diversity & inclusion expert in India. 

Commenting on the launch of BCWI 2017, Diversity & inclusion champion, Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, AVTAR Group says,  

“Women’s workforce participation is a matter of national interest and concern, given the economic implications of advancing women in India. Discerning organizations seek data-backed inspiration to drive the agenda forward in moving towards a 50-50 gender balance. This is what the Best Companies initiative has provided – it is India’s largest gender analytics exercise. It has become that benchmark by which organizations keen on gender inclusion wherever they are in their Diversity journey, measure their policies and programs. This year, apart from identifying the Best 100 and Top 10 companies which have pushed the bar on women’s advancement, the BCWI brings a new aspect – the Male Ally Legacy award, which celebrates an iconic male leader who has made the difference to thousands of women’s careers.” 

The first edition of Best Companies of Women in India (BCWI) in 2016 saw an overwhelming participation of over 300 companies from industry segments like Healthcare, BFSI, IT, Manufacturing, Education and others.

People Matters did an in-depth story on ‘Best Companies for Women in India in 2016’.The Top 10 Companies of 2016 include- Accenture, Cummins, Deloitte, EY, HUL, IBM, ICICI Bank, Intel, Mindtree, Morgan Stanley, People Combine (Due to a tie for one of the positions, there were 11 companies in the Top 10). 

The program will be launched on the 8th of March 2017. Companies from across industries can participate in the project. The last date for filing the application is June 30th, 2017. Interested companies, with a minimum of 500 employees (including both men and women) in India, can visit the official website of BCWI at http://www.avtariwin.com/best-companies to register.