• SAIL financial turnaround: Under Soma Mondal's tenure, SAIL achieved over 1 lakh crore in revenue with a 30% increase, improved EBITDA, and reduced debt by more than 50% from around 53,000 crores to approximately 25,000 crores.
• Manufacturing leadership pipeline: The talent pool of women for top roles in public sector manufacturing remains constrained due to historical lack of shop-floor facilities, remote plant locations, and post-marriage relocation difficulties.
• Overcoming career barriers: Mondal noted that protective workplace attitudes often deny women challenging operational assignments, emphasizing that women must proactively request tough roles to build leadership capability.
• Manufacturing leadership outlook: With modern enabling policies and women increasingly working in core areas like blast furnaces, Mondal expects a woman CEO will lead a steel plant in the coming years.