New Delhi: Soma Mondal has taken over as Chairperson of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) on January 1. Prior to this, she was serving as Director (Commercial) in the same Maharatna PSU. Mondal is the first woman Chairperson to head the steel giant. According to a previous order from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), she has been appointed to the post with effect from January 1, till the date of her superannuation i.e. April 30, 2023, or until further orders, whichever is earlier. With her new assignment, she has succeeded Anil Kumar Chaudhary, who superannuated on December 31, 2020.
A graduate in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela in 1984, Mondal started her career as a Graduate Engineer Trainee at NALCO and rose to become Director (Commercial) at the company. She then joined SAIL in 2017 as Director (Commercial) and has now assumed charge as the Chairperson of SAIL. She is well known in the aluminium industry for her contribution to various industry forums. As Director (Commercial), she was instrumental in introducing new marketing strategies and products at SAIL, enriching the company's product basket. Under her able leadership, the company launched niche branded products like NEX (Structural) and SAIL SeQR (TMT bars). Both these products have emerged as best-in-class in their respective categories.
As Chairperson of SAIL, Mondal is the Chief Executive of the corporation and is accountable to its board of directors and the government. She is also responsible for the efficient functioning of the corporation, and for achieving its corporate objectives and performance parameters.
After assuming charge on the first day of the year, she addressed the SAIL collective and said, "SAIL has a rich legacy with enormous contributions from its employees and leadership over the decades. It has been at the forefront of nation-building. 'There's a little bit of SAIL in everybody's life' is an apt description of SAIL's importance as a trusted steel maker to the nation." She added, "SAIL is a colossal organisation, with multi-location production units and mines, wide-ranging product basket and diverse workforce. People are its greatest strength and with synergised efforts of the entire Team SAIL, we will strive to attain higher summits. Our immediate focus is to improve the top-line and the bottom-line of the company. We are charting out all strategies to improve value for all our stakeholders and make it structurally stronger."
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