Odisha-born Soma Mondal in Forbes’ most powerful women list

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: Sixty-year-old and Odisha-born Soma Mondal has been placed on Forbes’ most powerful women list. Soma has been ranked #70 in the world and she is among four women from the country, who have found their mention in the coveted list.

A list of 100 such influential women from across the world was recently declared for this year.

However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was placed on Rank 32, HCL Technologies Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra on Rank 60 and Head of Biocon Limited Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Rank 76.

Soma was born in Bhubaneswar in a middle-class family and her father Dr. Hari Kumar Dasgupta was an agricultural scientist. Her mother is Aparna Dasgupta. Soma had her schooling in Bhubaneswar. She graduated in Electrical Engineering in 1984 from the National Institute of Technology (formerly Regional Engineering College) in Rourkela.

Subsequently, Soma started her professional career as a trainee engineer in the National Aluminium Company (NALCO) in Bhubaneswar. She was gradually promoted to the post of NALCO Director (Commercial). In 2017, she joined Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) as Director (Commercial) and became the first woman to chair the State-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in 2021.

Soma has led the steelmaker to record financial growth since taking over; the company’s profits surged threefold to 120 billion rupees in her first year at the helm. She has more than three decades of experience in the metals industry. Popularly, she is regarded as the ‘Queen of Steels’.