Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ranks 32nd on Forbes' 2023 Power List

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been ranked 32nd in the Forbes' list of world's most powerful women. Sitharaman features in the list that also featured US Vice President Kamala Harris and musician Taylor Swift, among others.

Sitharaman became India's first full-time Finance Minister in May 2019 and also heads the Corporate Affairs ministry. She held roles at UK's Agricultural Engineers Association and BBC World Service before joining politics. She has also been a member of the National Commission for Women.

Taking over from the late Arun Jaitley, Sitharaman's role as finance minister has been quite important in shaping India's economic strategies amidst global challenges and particularly the Covid pandemic.

Sitharaman stands out for her substantial contributions to Indian Politics and her substantial influence on India's economic policies. 

Three other Indian women have also been named in the list. They are HCL Corporation CEO Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Steel Authority of India chairperson Soma Mondal, and Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the daughter of the HCL founder and industrialist Shiv Nadar. As the chairperson of HCL Technologies, she's responsible for all strategic decisions for the company, Forbes said. She took over the role from her father in July 2020.

Soma Mondal is the first woman chairperson of the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), according to Forbes. Having assumed the role in 2021, she has led the steelmaker to record financial growth, her profile read, as the firm's profits surged threefold in her first year of leadership.

Forbes described Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has one of India's richest self-made women. She had founded the biopharmaceutical firm Biocon in 1978, which has Asia's largest insulin factory in Malaysia's Johor region. 

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen came on top of the list, followed by European Central Bank boss Christine Lagarde at the second position and US Vice President Kamal Harris at number three.