Among the country's busiest women directors are former Indian Institute of Management professor Indira Parikh, HDFC Managing Director Renu Sud Karnad, and former ICICI Securities MD and CEO Ramni Narula. Each of them sits on boards of seven listed companies, according to the information compiled by Indianmandarins. Former Director and General Manager of General Insurance Corporation Bhagyam Ramani, former SBI Deputy Managing Director Bharati Rao, former Senior Managing Director of Blackstone Group Punita Kumar Sinha, and former FICCI Executive Vaijayanti Pandit hold board positions in six listed companies each. Similarly, former Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank Ranjana Kumar, who was also the first woman to head a public sector bank, former Deputy Governor of RBI Kishori Udeshi, former McKinsey partner Ireena Vittal, and former PepsiCo India Executive Director Vibha Paul Rishi are among those who have accepted board positions in five public-listed companies each. Their board positions are not limited to just listed companies, they sit on boards of a few unlisted companies too. An exception among these women is Rajashree Birla, mother of Kumar Mangalam Birla; she sits on the boards of seven AV Birla group companies, of which only two appointments (to the boards of Century Textiles and Century Enka) were made after the law on women directors took effect. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon, another sought-after director, sits on the boards of Infosys, United Breweries and Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd, besides Biocon and its associates. Several women directors, whose services are just as much in demand, have chosen to accept fewer positions as they hold day jobs -- as corporate executives, bankers, lawyers, academicians, chartered accountants and consultants. What is clear is that reputed listed companies have actively sought out professional women of stature, who can offer strategic inputs and advice. However, there are also hundreds of companies that have ticked the box on compliance, and appointed female relatives with no previous exposure to business to board positions.