Rising POSH cases show why women still feel unsafe at work

By: Team India Tracker

Unsafe workplaces hurt productivity, raise attrition and erode trust in corporate institutions. Until offices become safer and more inclusive, India’s growth story will remain incomplete

The recent sexual harassment allegations at the Nashik branch of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), where several women filed complaints against colleagues, have exposed a problem India’s corporate world has struggled to confront for decades: workplaces may be growing larger and richer, but they are not necessarily becoming safer for women.

The episode is not isolated. It reflects a wider pattern across India Inc., where formal complaints of workplace sexual harassment have risen sharply despite stronger laws. Nearly 30 years after the Supreme Court of India laid down the Vishaka Guidelines, and more than a decade after Parliament passed the POSH Act, company data shows workplace safety remains a serious concern.

An analysis of 300 listed companies on the National Stock Exchange of India, based on annual reports and data from Ashoka University’s Centre for Economic Data and Analysis, found that 10,337 sexual harassment complaints were registered under the POSH Act between 2013-14 and FY25, according to a report in the Business Standard.

The rise has been dramatic. In FY14, companies reported only 161 complaints. By FY20, the number climbed to 961. It fell to 586 during the Covid year of FY21, before rising again to 1,729 in FY25. Reporting increased by 974 per cent, while nearly 14 per cent of all cases remain unresolved.

This increase partly reflects greater awareness. The 2013 Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act made it mandatory for organisations with 10 or more employees to set up Internal Committees to investigate complaints and conduct awareness programmes.

The #MeToo movement of 2018 also pushed the issue into public discussion, making it harder for companies to dismiss complaints quietly. More women are willing to report abuse, and more firms are being forced to disclose complaints publicly.

But rising complaints also suggest that the problem itself has not gone away.

The information technology, financial services, and metals and mining sectors account for the highest number of cases. In IT, complaints rose from 285 in FY20 to 574 in FY25. In financial services, they increased from 252 to 536. In metals and mining, they nearly doubled from 52 to 99.

These are among the clearest symbols of India’s economic rise. Yet they remain deeply male-dominated spaces where hierarchy, long hours, and weak accountability create difficult conditions for women employees.

Among individual companies, Wipro reported the highest number of complaints in FY25 at 195, followed by TCS with 125 and ICICI Bank with 117. Complaint ratios relative to female employees also increased. At IndiGo Airlines, the share rose from 0.31 per cent in FY20 to 0.42 per cent in FY25. At ICICI Bank, it rose from 0.17 to 0.28 per cent, while Wipro rose from 0.19 to 0.23 per cent, the report mentioned.

Yet even these figures may understate the problem.

Sexual harassment complaints made up only 5.4 per cent of all workplace grievances in FY24 and 5.8 per cent in FY25 among the companies studied. More importantly, they account for just 0.1 per cent of the total female workforce.

That does not necessarily mean workplaces are safe. It often means women still hesitate to complain because of fear, stigma, or concern about career damage.

The deeper issue is the low presence of women in corporate India. Across the 300 NSE companies, only about 20 per cent of the 6.6 million employees are women. This creates a cycle: fewer women mean less accountability, and unsafe workplaces push even more women out.

India’s legal framework exists, but enforcement remains weak. The World Bank’s 2025 Women, Business and the Law index shows India scoring 50 on legal protections related to women’s work, compared with 100 for both the United States and Japan.

India performs better on supportive institutional frameworks, scoring 75, though behind Germany’s 100. But on enforcement perception, India scores only 34, far below the US at 66 and Japan at 75.

That gap between law and lived experience is the real challenge.

For India, this is not just a social issue but an economic one. Unsafe workplaces reduce productivity, increase attrition, and weaken trust in corporate institutions. Until offices become safer and more inclusive, India’s growth story will remain incomplete. Economic progress cannot be measured only by profits and market value; it must also be judged by safety and dignity for working women.