An unrelenting warrior of inclusion with an undying fire in her heart to see an inclusive and accessible world, Ms. Sminu Jindal is, first and foremost, a visionary entrepreneur and the first lady entrant in India to do her gender proud by breaking the glass ceiling in the Steel, Oil and Gas sector. As the Managing Director of Jindal SAW Limited, she belongs to the USD 18.5 billion O.P. Jindal Group.
Jindal SAW among other things was the first to manufacture Submerged Arc Welded (SAW) Pipes using the internationally acclaimed U-O-E technology in India. With her crisp business acumen and foresight, Ms. Jindal led the company to a commanding position in India’s tubular market, being the undisputed leader. In the recent years, proliferation in various industry verticals has further strengthened the position of the company, as her extraordinary business vision and foresight helped it to spread its dynamic presence worldwide.
One of the world’s largest pipe manufacturers offering total pipe solutions, Jindal SAW Limited has major market share in energy and water sector in India. With backward integration to iron ore mines, pellets and steel, Jindal SAW manufactures LSAW pipes, HSAW pipes, ductile iron pipes & fittings, seamless pipes, external and internal coatings, bends, anode and connector casings. With manufacturing facilities also in middle-east, the USA and Europe, Jindal SAW has strong market footprints in the USA, Africa, Europe, Middle East and Latin America.
With manifold growth, innovation and continuously setting new benchmarks, Jindal SAW Limited, under the able leadership of Ms. Jindal, has marched ahead to other businesses through its subsidiaries.
Under her stewardship, Jindal SAW’s subsidiary JITF is laying a strong foundation for a secure and sustainable future. The subsidiary is running India’s leading and most efficient Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant in Delhi, generating 21 MW energy having consumed 4 MMT of municipal waste in the last six years alone. Also, it has additionally been awarded eight waste management projects in different parts of India, including Andhra Pradesh (3), Punjab (1), Rajasthan (2), Gujarat (1)and Delhi (1) which are under different stages of construction.
Ms. Jindal also leads another robust nation-building vertical, the Jindal Rail Infrastructure, which manufactures rail wagons at the plant located in the Indian state of Gujarat. The plant is one of the largest suppliers for all types of Broad Gauge Freight Cars to Indian Railways and Private Sector; the only Freight Car manufacturer in India to have successfully developed and manufactured Special-Purpose Freight Cars for transportation of 260 meters long welded rail panels in 5 tiers, also successfully designed and developed Freight Cars suitable for tippling operation using a combination of rotary and fixed couplers - Gondola Cars for Export Market (Cape Gauge, Africa).
As Ms. Sminu Jindal has made a historic and exemplary contribution in the Indian steel industry, she continues to be the Chairperson of the ASSOCHAM National Council on Iron & Steel since the year 2007.
Early Life:
Eldest daughter of Mr. PR Jindal, Ms. Sminu Jindal was born in 1973. She married Mr. Indresh Batra in 2001, and they have two sons, aged 18 and 15.
While once returning from Jaipur to New Delhi, she met with an accident at the age of 11 years that left her a wheelchair user for life. She says, “It took me a long time to realise what had happened to me, but my parents stood rock solid in helping me cope with the repercussions of the accident.”
In conversation with Fortune India, Jindal notes, “I come from a family where women never worked. Yet I have worked all my life. Would this have happened without the accident? May be not,” she says.
Her initial dejection and dilemma:
One could only imagine what all turbulent thoughts might have gone through the mind of an 11-year old girl who had met this serious accident that made her to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Initially, she was too depressed to mingle with others and go to school. Her entire idea of the world was seemingly collapsing despite the best care that her parents had ensured. She wanted to complete her education at home. However, her parents opposed this idea and were not willing to let anything break the cycles of her normal life. As they could afford, they got lift and ramp installed at her school and later at her college (it was first such infrastructural intervention at these institutions).
She completed her education like any other student and this opened the vista of her vision. She had a chance to encounter never before experiences, reactions of the fellow students and how people with reduced mobility faced tremendous challenges while stepping out; in fact they could hardly step out as the public infrastructure was everything but accessible. In fact, accessibility was unheard off at that time.
The on-ground experiences and close encounter of the’ ignored kind’ (persons with reduced mobility) gave her the ‘calling of her life’ – devoting her life towards making the world accessible, inclusive; to secure the human rights of one of the most vulnerable groups and empower them with accessibility of infrastructure, transportation systems and ICT, so that like anyone else, they could too contribute to the best of their talent and feel dignified. Here, she realized God does nothing without a reason. The accident changed her outlook and gave her ‘her true callings’. She then threw herself, body and soul towards empowering people and creating a world that is inclusive, accessible.
Education:
After doing her B.Com.(Hons.) from the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), New Delhi, she went on to pursue the MBA from the Fore School of Management, New Delhi with specialization in Finance. Her outstanding academic performance won her a Silver Medal, and later on, the Institute of Marketing and Management, New Delhi, bestowed upon her the Award for Excellence as the Top Woman Entrepreneur.
Alma mater:
- Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School, New Delhi
- Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur, Rajasthan
- B.Com. (Hons.), Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), New Delhi
- M.B.A. (specialization in Finance), Fore School of Management, New Delhi