‘6,803 employees, only 951 women’: Cars24 CEO flags gender gap, seeks suggestions

A candid post Vikram Chopra, founder and CEO of Cars24, on International Women’s Day has sparked discussion online about gender representation in corporate leadership.In the comments section, several users shared views on workplace structures and hiring practices. (X/@vikramchopra)Taking to X, Chopra shared internal numbers, saying that the company has 6,803 employees in India but only 951 are women, accounting for about 14% of the workforce. He added that the gap becomes even more stark at senior levels. “At Director level (B6): zero women. Not low. Zero,” he wrote, adding that he had been reflecting on the numbers for several days.Chopra said that while the company does hire women and entry-level representation is “meaningfully better”, the organisation appears to lose women somewhere between mid-management and senior leadership. According to him, this suggests a deeper structural issue rather than simply a hiring pipeline problem.“Culture is not what you say on your careers page. Culture is who grows here. Culture is who gets promoted. Culture is who stays,” he wrote. The CEO added that the absence of women at the director level forced him to ask an uncomfortable question about whether the company had unintentionally built systems that make it harder for women to rise to leadership roles.Saying he does not have a “clean answer”, Chopra said he wanted to len to senior women leaders from across industries. He invited women in tech, operations, product and other field-heavy sectors to share what would make them consider joining a company like Cars24, what kind of leadership culture feels enabling, and what structural changes could improve hiring, retention and promotions.He also announced plans to host small roundtable discussions with women leaders in the coming weeks to better understand the issue. “Talented women shouldn’t just join Cars24, they should rise here. This one is on me,” he wrote.(Also Read: Australian High Commission diplomats in India switch to ‘Dhurandhar’ mode to mark International Women’s Day)Social media reactionsThe post quickly drew reactions online, with several users offering suggestions and sharing views on workplace structures and hiring practices.“Don’t compare it to west, India itself has 30% female participating in corporate and mid level they start upbringing responsibility. If you really want to bring change start creating part time roles for women in top management,” one user wrote.“I think you should ask your HR/talent team – how many resumes males vs females they processed? How many females they scheduled for the interview? What was the feedback on women who got interviewed? Apparently, even if you will get leads here, it may got lose in your internal process. Eg: might be the interviewer is biased , might be they want to prefer to work with males. Etc,” commented another.“Enabling infrastructure – mindset change takes time but infrastructure & facilities support helps. Parental leave which encourages father’s to take leaves. Daycare facilities for children upto 12 within or near premises open till late evening. And most imp sponsors,” suggested another.