Purpose – This study examines how distinct board-level governance mechanisms—board size, board independence, board meeting frequency, and audit committee size—are associated with the likelihood of financial distress among Indian listed non-financial firms.

Design/methodology/approach –The study analyses an unbalanced panel of 13,434 firm-year observations for Indian listed non-financial firms over financial years 2010–2025, obtained from the CMIE Prowessdx database. The empirical models estimate associations between four board characteristics and a binary financial-distress indicator derived from the Altman Z-score, with firm-level controls and year and industry fixed effects.

Findings – Board size, board meeting frequency and audit committee size are negatively associated with financial distress, whereas board independence is positively associated with distress. The results indicate that governance attributes do not have uniform implications for firms’ financial resilience.

Research limitations/implications – The evidence is limited to listed non-financial firms in India, selected governance characteristics and one accounting-based distress measure. Observational design supports association rather than causal inference.

Practical implications – Boards and regulators should focus on the substantive effectiveness of oversight rather than formal compliance alone, particularly when evaluating board independence.

Originality/value – This study contributes to the corporate governance and financial distress literature by distinguishing the associations of individual board mechanisms in an emerging-market setting characterized by concentrated ownership and substantial regulatory change. The evidence qualifies universal prescriptions for board structure and redirects attention from formal compliance toward the substantive effectiveness of monitoring arrangements.