Turbulent times plagued the world in 2025, and none felt the impact more deeply than the planet’s most vulnerable groups. Women, in particular, faced significant setbacks – from mass layoffs and rising unemployment to escalating misogyny across social media and manosphere echo chambers. Structural patriarchy also continued to create roadblocks, compounding the difficulties women already endure.
Yet, despite these turbulent times, women have persevered; Many of the women on the Forbes‘ 2025 Most Powerful Women are running tech empires or governments or contributing towards the betterment of the world through philanthropy. These women stand as examples of hope for a brighter tomorrow and it is under their guidance that the world will be steered in the coming decades. Among them are three exceptional Indian women, each representing a unique dimension of leadership.
Indian women are leading the way forward
India made three appearance on the Forbes’ 2025 Most Powerful Women list which saw European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen cinch the #1 rank; her position as the most powerful woman in the world is partly because not only is she the first woman to serve as President of the EC but she is also responsible for legislation that affects over 450 million people.
India’s top entry on the list is through Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who has been ranked at #24, followed by Roshni Nadar Malhotra, CEO of HCL at #76 and Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw at #83. These three women are not only pioneers in their respective fields but also very influential figures in their own right.
Nirmala Sitharaman is directly responsible for the economic policy and managing the national finances of a country with a population of 1.4 billion according to the UNFPA; It is through her that Budgets get presented and policies get reformed. In 2025 she became the first person in Indian history to present the Union budget for the 8th consecutive time.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra, with a personal net worth of Rs 2.8 lakh crore or $31 billion as per a Hurun 2025 report, is not just one of India’s wealthiest women but also the first woman to lead a publicly listed tech company. She is behind every strategic decision taken by HCL which has a revenue of $14 billion according to Forbes.
Meanwhile, with a net worth of $3.6 billion, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder, chair and MD of pharmaceutical company Biocon, is India’s richest self-made woman and incredibly powerful one – Biocon is responsible for developing and manufacturing affordable, high-quality medicines to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.
The importance of women leading in these sectors
These three women are major stakeholders in three important sectors of the country: Finance, Technology and Pharmaceuticals. What makes the presence of these three Indian women on Forbes’ list striking is not simply their titles, but the context in which they operate.
Each of them has had to navigate entrenched hierarchies in industries where women remain underrepresented at the very top. Their ascent signals a shift in India’s global image: a country whose influence is increasingly defined not only by its economic growth but also by the diversity of voices shaping that growth.
Together, their recognition is less about individual achievement than about the collective signal it sends: that Indian women are not only breaking ceilings but are also setting the agenda in boardrooms, ministries, and laboratories.
