The most codified independent-director regime in the world — a statutory databank, a proficiency test, a five-year term and a two-term cap — and the one market on this exchange where we read the filings ourselves.
India is the exception on the Global ID Exchange: it is covered by a dedicated platform, India ID Exchange, which reads the filed record of thousands of listed boards every night and names seats before they are advertised. India also has the most prescriptive independent-director regime of any major market, with a government-run databank, an online proficiency self-assessment, fixed terms and a statutory two-term cap. For a cross-border candidate, that prescriptiveness is an advantage: eligibility is a checklist rather than a judgement.
India ID Exchange. India is covered end to end by our dedicated Indian platform — live mandates, filed-record vacancy foresight across the listed universe, remuneration benchmarks and the Board Governance Journal.
Open India ID ExchangeCan a foreign director sit on a board here?
What you have to do
What actually gets in the way
Board composition
Each requirement is stated as arithmetic against the instrument that creates it, with who it binds. Nothing here is characterised as compliance or non-compliance — that is a legal conclusion about a specific company, and it is not ours to draw.
| Requirement | Threshold | Basis | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent directors | At least one-third of the board | Companies Act 2013, s.149(4) | Listed public companies |
| Independent directors where the chair is executive or a promoter | At least one-half of the board | SEBI LODR, Reg. 17(1)(b) | Listed entities |
| Woman independent director | At least one | SEBI LODR, Reg. 17(1)(a) | Top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation |
| Audit committee | At least three directors, two-thirds independent, chaired by an independent director | SEBI LODR, Reg. 18 | Listed entities |
Independence and tenure
Other tests
What a seat pays
Companies Act 2013 · s.149(4)
Every listed public company must have at least one-third of its board comprised of independent directors.
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015 · Reg. 17(1)
The board must have at least six directors; at least half must be independent where the chairperson is executive or a promoter, and at least one-third otherwise. At least one woman independent director is required for the top 1,000 listed entities.
SEBI
Companies Act 2013 · ss.149(10)–(11)
An independent director holds office for a term of up to five consecutive years and may serve no more than two consecutive terms, after which a three-year cooling-off period applies.
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules 2014 · Rule 6
An individual must be registered in the IICA independent-director databank and, unless exempt, pass the online proficiency self-assessment test before being appointed.
IICA / MCA
Diversity requirements
How this regime map is maintained
Every requirement on this page is cited to the instrument that creates it, and the review date states when a person last checked it against the primary source. Nothing here is legal advice: rules change, and transitional provisions frequently apply. Verify against the primary instrument before you rely on it.
This regime map was last reviewed against primary sources in August 2026.
The demand thesis
This section is our reading of the market, not a statement of law. It is separated from the rules above for exactly that reason.
Why seats open
How you get in
What this market is short of
Most receptive sectors
India feed
The same sourced stream as the central feed, isolated to India. Every item cites the authority that made the change.
Rule 6 of the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules requires registration in the IICA independent-director databank and, unless exempt, a pass in the online proficiency self-assessment test.
Read the full itemLive mandates
Register your interest and you are matched against this market's briefs as they open — statutory, interim and advisory alike.
Mobility corridors
A corridor is a directional pair of markets between which experience is genuinely legible — and every one of them carries a friction, because a corridor with nothing to bridge would be a corridor nobody had thought about.
Singapore is the regional holding-company seat for a large share of Indian outbound capital, and Singapore boards governing Indian operations actively want directors who have governed in India.
Friction — Indian governance is statutory where Singapore's is code-based, so an Indian director accustomed to a rulebook must adjust to a comply-or-explain conversation.
Deep commercial and diaspora links, a large population of India-linked groups operating from the UAE, and boards that value directors fluent in both regulatory environments.
Friction — Three separate UAE regimes — onshore, DIFC and ADGM — mean experience of one is not a credential in the others, and candidacy for a PJSC board runs to a fixed annual timetable.
A large population of UK-listed and UK-domiciled groups with Indian operations, shared legal tradition, and Indian governance credentials — the IICA databank and proficiency test — that read as rigorous to a UK committee.
Friction — UK boards will test for comply-or-explain judgement rather than rule compliance, which is a genuinely different skill from the one Indian regulation rewards.
Substantial and growing defence, water, agritech and cyber commercial links, and a shared comfort with statutory rather than code-based governance — Indian directors are used to a rulebook, which is what Israel has.
Friction — The external-director office is elected on a minority-supported basis, so a candidate introduced by a controlling shareholder gains less from that introduction than they would in India.
Mauritius is the long-established conduit for India- and Africa-facing investment structures, and an Indian director already understands both the investor base and the underlying assets.
Friction — The substance rules require two Mauritius-RESIDENT directors, which a non-resident cannot satisfy — so an Indian candidate joins alongside them rather than instead of them.
Questions
Yes. There is no nationality bar. A foreign national must obtain a Director Identification Number, register in the IICA independent-director databank and, unless exempt, pass the online proficiency self-assessment test. The company separately needs at least one director who was resident in India for 182 days in the preceding financial year.
Up to two consecutive terms of five years each under Companies Act s.149(10)–(11), followed by a three-year cooling-off period before re-appointment to the same board.
India ID Exchange, our dedicated Indian platform. It reads thousands of listed boards nightly and names independent-director seats from the filed record before they are advertised — coverage this Global Exchange does not attempt to duplicate.
ID Exchange of India
The mobility index scores it against your own record across four named components — corridor strength, legal openness, what this market is short of, and the language its boards work in — and tells you plainly when the answer is no.