India is witnessing an inspiring upward shift in women’s leadership—across politics, business, science, and social impact. From the nation's presidential residence to boardrooms and startup hubs, more women are taking the helm. Here are some of India’s foremost women leaders making waves today:
- Droupadi Murmu, President of India since July 2022 — the country's first tribal president and second female head of state
- Priya Nair, incoming CEO & Managing Director at Hindustan Unilever (effective August 1, 2025), currently President of Beauty & Well‑Being at Unilever
- Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, and on Forbes India’s 2025 W‑Power List
- Leena Nair, Global CEO of Chanel, recognized on the 2025 W‑Power List
- Smriti Mandhana, Indian national women’s cricketer, featured in Forbes’s W‑Power List
- PV Sindhu, Olympic medalist and advocate for women’s sports on the 2025 W‑Power List
- Manu Bhaker, acclaimed shooter, included in Forbes’s 2025 list
- Vandana Tolani, Founder & CEO of Convanto, a 2025 International Women’s Day honoree
- Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Chairperson of Sustainability at ReNew, rated among Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women 2024–25
Celebrating Successful Women in India
In a survey of LinkedIn members conducted in February 2022 in India, it was found that approximately 30% of those in leadership roles within the education sector were women. Conversely, only 14% of leadership positions in the real estate sector were occupied by women.
Nita Ambani
Chairperson and founder of Reliance Foundation, and non-executive director of Reliance Industries Limited.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Founder and Chairperson of Biocon Limited, a leading biotechnology company. She is considered a pioneer in the Indian biotechnology industry.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra Chairperson of HCL Technologies, one of India's largest IT services companies. She is the first woman to chair a listed IT company in India.
Zia Mody
Co-founder and managing partner of AZB & Partners, one of India's most prestigious law firms. She is a prominent corporate lawyer.
Falguni Nayar
Founder and CEO of Nykaa, an e-commerce platform that sells beauty and wellness products. She is one of India's most successful self-made women entrepreneurs.
Arundhati Bhattacharya
Former Chairperson of State Bank of India, the largest public sector bank in the country. She was the first woman to head the SBI.
Shobhana Bhartia
Chairperson and Editorial Director of HT Media, a major media conglomerate that owns Hindustan Times and other publications.
Padmaja Ruparel
Co-founder and President of Indian Angel Network, one of the largest angel investor networks in Asia.
Malvika Sinha
Managing Director and CEO of Aditya Birla Finance, a leading non-banking financial company.
Aditi Avasthi
Founder and CEO of Embibe, an AI-powered edtech platform that provides personalized learning solutions.
Woman leaders in India deserve to be praised, whether she is a leader at work, in her neighborhood, in her family, in her country, or the entire world. A leader is someone who exerts significant influence as a mentor, guide, and pathfinder by their work, personality, and accomplishments. The truth is that we should honor leaders of all genders. However, there are other reasons why female leaders should be honored more:
- It is important to highlight the accomplishments of women in history because they are rarely given the recognition they merit.
- In every sector, women today need more role models to look up to. Creating such role models can be aided by recognizing leaders who have overcome challenges to accomplish anything in life.
- Women have only recently become more prominent in numerous industries. To do this, they had to shatter every glass ceiling imaginable. Celebrating successful female leaders can go a long way toward establishing their credibility.
- Women in positions of leadership can make excellent mentors. Celebrating their accomplishments makes it known who to approach for advice from the public, particularly those wishing to work in the same industry.
10 Famous Female Personalities in Indian History
There have been numerous women in Indian history who have been politically active and have been able to motivate people with their actions. Several people have affected the Indian political scene in addition to these women.
Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, thousands of women took part in campaigns against the British government. By telling the tales of the women who did take part in, contribute to, and make sacrifices for our freedom, we can make amends for this injustice. Here are a few that you ought to be aware of.
Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi
In reality, Rani Lakshmibai's tale is the most well-known. The British Doctrine of Lapse, which stated that a princely state under the British East India Company (EIC) would lose its identity if a monarch died without a male successor, caused the young, widowed queen of the state of Jhansi to succumb after the death of her husband.
She made the decision to fight the British rather than cede the rights of her kingdom, joining the insurgent armies of Barrackpore, Meerut, Kanpur, Lucknow, and subsequently Delhi. The Durga Dal, the first female military unit in Indian history, was also trained by her. While fighting the British, she lost her life as a martyr with her female troops.
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Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh was exiled in 1856 as a result of the Doctrine of Lapse's provision that an unworthy king could be overthrown and his state taken over by the EIC.
Begum Hazrat Mahal, the ex-wife of the Nawab, used the Revolt's beginning in 1857 as a chance to free Awadh from British rule.
She appointed herself as her 11-year-old son's regent, crowned him the Nawab, and then immediately organized a revolt against the British army with the aid of ministers, businessmen, and obedient subjects. Her force was so powerful that even the British were overcome and gave her a truce (twice! ), along with the chance of giving Awadh back to its legitimate rulers. All proposals were refused by the Begum, who went on.
Ahilyabai Holkar
Ahilyabai Holkar was born on May 31st, 1725 in Gram Chundi, Maratha Empire, and is considered one of the most remarkable female rulers in Indian history. She advocated for the principles of dharma and actively promoted industrialization during the 18th century.
Following the deaths of her husband and father-in-law, she governed Malwa with wisdom and sagacity. On numerous occasions, she led the army from the front, displaying bravery and skill as she rode on an elephant armed with bows and arrows. It is widely believed that under her rule, Malwa was never attacked and remained a bastion of stability and peace.
Savitribai Phule
Savitribai Phule was born on January 3, 1931, in Naigaon village in Maharashtra. She is recognized as one of the earliest feminists in India, a trailblazing educator, and a vocal opponent of caste discrimination. As the first female teacher in the country, she played a pivotal role in advancing women's empowerment, supported by her husband, Jyotirao Phule. Together, in 1848, they established one of the first modern schools for girls in Pune at Bhide Wada. Additionally, she was a prolific writer in the Marathi language.
One of the Dalit veeranganas (women warriors, or heroes) who led the struggle against the British in 1857 is frequently honoured as Jhalkaribai of the Durga Dal.
The Dalit Veeranganas
She wasn't the only one, though. Recently, Dalit and social historians have learned the identities and actions of numerous Indian women who took part in the Revolt. Awadh, the United Provinces, and other North Indian regions all had inns run by women of the Bhatiyara caste (also known as Bhatiyarins). However, an unknown Pasi woman, known today as Uda Devi, was one of the most well-known Dalit personalities of 1857; a bust of her can be found in Lucknow's Sikandar Bagh.
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Neeta Ambani
Nita Ambani, born on November 1, 1963, is an Indian philanthropist. She is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation. Famous as an educationist, businesswoman, patron of arts and sports, and an advocate for women's and children's rights.
Through her support for arts and culture, Nita Ambani has provided platforms for women to showcase their talents and express themselves creatively, thus empowering them in the process.
Women Against Bengal Partition, 1905
Women actively and immediately participated in the agitation against the partition of Bengal. Women from various backgrounds and religions heeded Rabindranath Tagore's appeal for the Rakhi Bandhan celebrations to stand for the unity of the Bengali people. Women attended political mobilization meetings in addition to taking part in protests.
One of India's first female graduates, Kadambini Ganguly, and Swarnakumari Devi, Rabindranath Tagore's sister and one of the country's first female novelists, both attended the Indian National Congress meeting in Calcutta to decide on the best course of action to take in opposition to Partition.
Lakshmi Sahgal
The Rani of Jhansi regiment of Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army was commanded by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal (INA).
Despite the fact that most people are aware of this element of Sahgal's life, many people are still ignorant that this brave leader who joined the army to fight the British was a trained physician with an MBBS degree who was practising in Malaysia before to meeting Bose and joining his army. She participated in the INA's march across Burma to India, was detained in 1945, and was then returned to India in 1946 to stand trial for the INA in Delhi. After independence, Sahgal maintained her work by organising medical assistance programs for Bangladeshi refugees in 1971, the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984, and the victims of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
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Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi must be at the top of this list because she was India's first female prime minister. She held the position from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984. More people disagree regarding Gandhi's politics. She is revered by many as the leader who contributed to India's victory over Pakistan in 1971. However, her authoritarianism and the declaration of the Emergency in 1975 reveal that she also had troublesome traits. Even so, her legacy is the most motivating of all.
Sushma Swaraj
Sushma Swaraj was one of the most inspirational women politicians in India. She was a Supreme Court lawyer, a seven-time member of parliament, a three-time member of the Legislative Assembly, and the second woman to hold the office of Minister of External Affairs (the first was Gandhi). Posthumously, she received the Padma Vibhushan.
Jayalalitha
Jayalalitha Jayaram was the first female chief minister of Tamil Nadu and the general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). In 1982, she left the movie industry to enter politics, and in 1984, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Mamata Banerjee
Banerjee, the first woman to serve as chief minister of West Bengal, is referred to as the didi of Indian politics. In 1997, she founded the Trinamool Congress, and 34 years later, she overthrew the state's CPIM government. She was also India's first female minister of railways.
Mahua Moitra
Moitra, a former economist who now works in politics, joined the TMC in 2010 and was later chosen to serve in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in 2016. She was chosen to serve in the Lok Sabha in 2019 and has since enthralled the country with her passionate speeches.
Top 3 Successful Women Leaders of India (Business Tycoons)
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw – Chairperson of Biocon
The creator and chairman of the Bengaluru-based Indian biopharmaceutical company BioCoin is billionaire businessman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. The former IIM Bangalore chair, Mazumdar-Shaw, is listed as one of the top 50 businesswomen by the Financial Times, 68th on Forbes' list of the most powerful women, and second on the list of women philanthropists of 2019.
If you want to know more about how can you celebrate women in India? Find out how India celebrates women in India.
Falguni Nayar – Founder-CEO of Nyka
Falguni Nayar, who recently made news for being the richest self-made female billionaire in India, is the current founder and CEO of the well-known Indian e-commerce company Nykaa. After an illustrious 20-year career in investment banking, Nayar, a graduate of Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai and IIM Ahmedabad, rose to prominence as a self-made businesswoman. Her incredible success against all odds propelled her company to notoriety and earned her numerous awards, including Business Today's 'The Most Powerful Women in Business 2017'.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra – CEO of HCL
Roshni Nadar Malhotra is an Indian businesswoman who is now the chairwoman of the Indian multinational IT company HCL. She was the first Indian woman to run a listed IT company in the nation. Nadar-Malhotra, a graduate of Northwestern University in Illinois, succeeded her father, the wealthy industrialist, and philanthropist Shiv Nadar, in her position as chairperson of HCL. Nadar-Malhotra is one of the wealthiest and most successful businesswomen in the nation. In 2019, Forbes put her as high as number 54 on its list of the 100 Most Powerful Women. She also received the Vogue and NDTV Philanthropist of the Year awards in 2017 and 2014, respectively.
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Importance Of Women In Indian Society in 2025
Strength And Resilience: Indian women have historically and currently demonstrated incredible strength and resilience in the face of adversity. They form a very essential aspect of the moral fibre of Indian society.
They have fought for their rights, challenged societal norms, and contributed significantly to their communities and the nation's progress.
Intellectual and Creative Contributions: Indian women have made significant contributions to various fields, including science, technology, engineering, mathematics, arts, literature, and social work.
Their intellectual prowess and creative talents have enriched society and inspired generations. Whether she's a mother or a scientist, a woman's nurturing nature can build the future. They are a strong component of sustainable development.
Nurturing and Caring Nature: Indian women play a crucial role in nurturing families and communities. Their compassion, empathy, and dedication to the well-being of others make them invaluable members of society.
Women play a crucial role in ensuring sustainable development and the overall well-being of the family. They take on various responsibilities such as being a partner, a decision-maker, a financial manager, and most significantly, a nurturing mother.
Tell us in the comments about the woman you respect the most!
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