Section 2(n) “Sexual Harassment” includes any one or more of the following unwelcome acts or behavior (whether directly or by implication) namely:—

(i) physical contact and advances; or

(ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or

(iii) making sexually coloured remarks; or

(iv) showing pornography; or

(v) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature; .

Section 3. Prevention of sexual harassment.—(1) No woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment at any workplace.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, mandates listed companies to annually report the number of sexual harassment cases and the steps taken for redressal.The data analysis showed that no company received more than 50 complaints in FY21, while five companies received 50 or more complaints in FY20. Six companies did not report any case of sexual harassment for the sixth consecutive year. These are Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Bajaj Finserv, Coal India, Reliance Industries, UPL and Shree Cement.

Among firms, HDFC Bank received the most complaints at 47 in FY21, though this was 10% lower than the previous year. This was followed by State Bank of India with 45 cases. Wipro showed the maximum reduction of complaints compared to earlier years, recording a 65% decline to 43 in FY21 from 125 in FY20. Other Nifty companies, which saw a high number of cases are Axis Bank (39), HDFC Life Insurance (39), ICICI Bank (33), Tech Mahindra (30), Tata Consultancy Services(27), Kotak Mahindra Bank (25), and Tata Steel (21).