Soma Mondal has taken charge as Director (Commercial) of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). Ms Mondal has broken the glass ceiling at the state owned steel major, by becoming the first ever woman functional director on the board of the behemoth.
Prior to this, she was the Director (Commercial), NALCO, Bhubaneswar. At NALCO too, she had the distinction of being the first woman functional Director.
Mondal takes over as Director (Commercial), SAIL at a time when the company is poised to take a major leap in marketing high volumes of value-added products from of its recently modernized Plants. In step, SAIL is also planning to attune its product portfolio to changing customer needs as part of an overall review of its marketing performance.
Her appointment also coincides with tough times for the steel industry in general which is facing low demand at home while battling threat of cheap imports.
Earlier, Mondal had joined NALCO after graduating in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela in 1984. She was involved in various project implementation activities as a part of the company’s Technology Cell.