Nirmala Sitharaman, 5 other Indians in Forbes' World's 100 Most Powerful Women 2022 list

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Nykaa Founder Falguni Nayar are among six Indians who have made it to the Forbes' annual list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

The minister, who was ranked 36, has made it to the list for the fourth time in a row. While billionaire entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is ranked 77, Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar is at the 89th spot.

The other Indians to be featured on the list are HCLTech Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, ranked 53, Securities And Exchange Board Of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch ranked 54, and Steel Authority Of India Chairperson Soma Mondal, ranked 67.

Since 2004, the American business magazine Forbes compiles an annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

This year, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is ranked No 1. The magazine stated, “For her leadership during the Ukraine war and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, von der Leyen sits atop the 19th annual Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” 

While European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde stood in the second position on the list, US Vice President Kamala Harris ranked third on the list.

As a mark of tribute, Iran's Jina Mahsa Amini was posthumously featured in the influential list at rank 100. “Jina Mahsa Amini is on the 2022 World's Most Powerful Women list as a representative of the thousands of Iranian women who are protesting for their rights,” stated the website. 

Forbes said the list was determined by four main metrics: money, media, impact and spheres of influence. “For political leaders, we weighed gross domestic products and populations; for corporate leaders, revenues and employee counts; and media mentions and reach of all. The result is a collection of women who are fighting the status quo.”

Here’s a quick look at what Forbes had to say about the six Indian women featured on the list. 

Sixty-three-year-old Finance Minister Nirmalaya Sithraman, who was ranked 37 on the list last year, 41st in 2020, and 34th in 2019, is India's first full-time female finance minister, noted the website and has “held roles at the UK-based Agricultural Engineers Association and BBC World Service. She has also served as a member of the National Commission for Women,” said Forbes. 

Ranked 53, HCL’s Roshni Nadar is the chairperson for HCLTech, a multinational IT services and consulting firm based in India. “She's responsible for all strategic decisions for the $12 billion technology company,” stated Forbes, adding that she is also a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which is focused on education and has established some of India's top colleges and schools. 

Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), is ranked 54th on the list. In March this year, Madhabi became the first female chair of the SEBI, “which oversees India's more-than $3 trillion stock market ecosystem.

Before joining SEBI, Puri Buch consulted for the New Development Bank in Shanghai and worked as a managing director and CEO at ICICI Securities,” said Forbes. 

Soma Mondal, Chairperson of the Steel Authority of India, has been ranked 67. On Mondal, Forbes said, ever since becoming the first woman to chair the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) in January 2021, “she has led the steelmaker to record financial growth since taking over: the company's profits surged threefold to 120 billion rupees in her first year at the helm.” It added, Mondal first became a director for the company in 2017.

She's responsible for launching an 80,000-million-rupee effort to expand production capacity. She has more than three decades of experience in the metals industry. After graduating from college with a degree in electrical engineering, she joined the state-run National Aluminium Co, added Forbes. 

Billionaire entrepreneur, Executive Chairperson, and Founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, is not a newbie on the list, and is ranked 77 this year after being ranked 55 last year.

According to Forbes, “Mazumdar-Shaw is one of India's richest self-made women, and founded India's largest listed biopharmaceutical firm by revenue, in 1978. The firm has successfully forayed into the lucrative US market. The company has Asia's largest insulin factory in Malaysia's Johor region.”

On Falguni Nayar, ranked 89 on the list, Forbes noted that she quit her job to start Nykaa, a retailer of beauty products in 2012. “Nykaa's marquee investors include U.S. private equity giant TPG Growth as well as billionaires Harsh Mariwala and Harry Banga. Nayar took Nykaa public in November 2021, becoming India's richest self-made female entrepreneur in the process.” 

According to Forbes, this year’s list included 39 CEOs; 10 heads of state; and 11 billionaires worth a combined $115 billion.