Soma Mondal – Steel Authority of India Ltd.

When you hear the word PSE (Public Sector Enterprise), what image comes to your mind? A huge dark factory, aged uncles sitting on their wooden desks reading newspapers with a pile of dust-ridden files on their table. Well gone are the days when PSEs were these lethargic organizations that were a burden on the economy of the nation. To a large extent, the image of PSEs has changed. They are now more modern, more efficient, more aggressive, and a contributor to the economy of the nation. This change is a result of continuous efforts by a number of dynamic personalities including today’s ratna Smt. Soma Modal, Chairperson, SAIL.

Mrs. Mondal was born and grew up in a middle-class family in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. Her father was an agricultural economist. She completed her major in Electrical Engineering from NIT (National Institute of Technology) Rourkela in 1984 and started her career as a Graduate Engineer Trainee at NALCO (National Aluminium Company Ltd.). She rose through the ranks of the company and was appointed as Director (Commercial) at NALCO in the year 2014. In 2017, she joined SAIL, and became the first woman functional director at SAIL. She took over as the first woman chairperson of the Maharatna PSU in January 2021.

The organization has registered stupendous growth under her leadership. Since 2017, SAIL has witnessed increasing sales and expanding market reach year on year. SAIL achieved the best ever sales volume consecutively for the four Financial Years from 2017-18 to 2020-21, and the momentum is still continuing in the current financial year of 2021-22, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. Under her, the company has reduced its borrowings by more than 40%. Addressing the shareholders virtually during the 50th Annual General Meeting, Mrs. Mondal informed that for the first time, SAIL has entered the elite club of Indian companies having a turnover of over Rs 1 lakh crore.

To come from an ordinary background and to take up the challenge of successfully revolutionizing the PSEs is an achievement in itself. Mrs. Mondal is not done yet. She has now set her eyes on planning SAIL's next phase of modernization and expansion. She is a firm believer that the collective performance of the PSEs can make a marked difference to the fortunes of the country.

This is Smt. Soma Mondal, Chairperson, SAIL our seventh ratna in the series Women Navratnas in Indian Corporate.