Soma Mondal has got off to an exceptional start in the new year. Ms Mondal, who until recently was director (commercial) of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), has taken over as chairperson of one of the country’s largest steel-makers.

For Ms Mondal – who is originally from Bhubaneswar, Odisha – the top post of the New Delhi-headquartered steel producer is yet another achievement. She becomes the first woman chief of the State-owned steel company, replacing her predecessor, Anil Kumar Chaudhary. Ms Mondal also happened to be the first woman director of SAIL, when in 2017, she had joined the steel behemoth as commercial director.

A graduate in electrical engineering from Odisha’s National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, the new SAIL chief has spent over 35 years in the metal industry. After passing out of NIT, she joined NALCO – one of the country’s largest, integrated aluminium producers – in 1984. Stepping into a man’s world, she visited plants, even worked on the shop-floors and finally rose to become commercial director of NALCO in 2014. Three years later, she joined SAIL as commercial director.

At SAIL, Ms Mondal spearheaded novel marketing strategies and played a major role in the over Rs 62,500-crore steel-maker’s comprehensive turnaround plan. Since 2017, SAIL has increased its sales and expanded its market reach progressively year on year. In fact, SAIL achieved the best-ever sales volume consecutively for three financial years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. Besides, the growth momentum is still continuing despite challenges posed by COVID-19.

The new SAIL chief was also instrumental in introducing new marketing strategies and products at the steel manufacturer. Under her leadership, the company launched niche branded products, like NEX for PF structural sections and SAIL SeQR for TMT bars. She set up two-tier distribution network for improving sales through retail channels. And Gaon Ki Ore workshops were organised in almost all States and Union Territories to educate and tap the vast potential of rural India.

Ms Mondal also reformed and restructured SAIL’s marketing organisation to meet evolving expectations of the challenging domestic market. She carved out three verticals – sales, marketing and services – to prepare SAIL for better management and marketing of enhanced volumes after its modernisation and expansion.

Taking charge of SAIL, Ms Mondal said recently: “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 SAIL structurally stronger.” Undoubtedly, the new SAIL chief has her work cut out to put the steel-maker on a fast-growth track.

Meanwhile, the domestic steel industry is facing many challenges, including high input costs and unavailability of coking coal, among others. Besides, severe shortage of secondary steel, owing to COVID-19 and lockdowns in the past, has hampered the steel industry badly. No wonder, steel prices have skyrocketed in the past few months, upsetting the country’s industrial and economic revival. There is also the issue of improving SAIL’s efficiency. The metal industry veteran in Ms Mondal has, in the meantime, hit the ground running to take SAIL to the next level of growth.