Forbes has recently unveiled its 2024 list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, featuring three Indian pioneers: Nirmala Sitharaman, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

Ranked 28th,Nirmala Sitharamanis India’s Minister ofFinance and Corporate Affairs. She became the first woman to hold these roles full-time in 2019 and was reappointed in 2024. Managing India’s $4 trillion economy, she projects that India will soon become the third-largest economy by 2027. A champion for women’s financial empowerment, she supports entrepreneurship, credit access, and financial literacy. Before politics, she worked at the BBC World Service and served on Indias National Commission for Women.

Ranked 81st,Roshni Nadar Malhotrais the Chairperson ofHCL Technologiesand CEO of HCL Corporation. She leads the $12 billion company founded by her father, Shiv Nadar. Besides her corporate role, she is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation and founded The Habitats Trust to conserve natural habitats. With a journalism background and an MBA from Kellogg, she has significantly contributed to HCL’s growth and social initiatives.

Ranked 82nd, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder of Biocon, a leading biopharmaceutical company. She expanded Biocon globally, including one of Asia’s largest insulin facilities. Her key achievements include Biocon Biologics $3.3 billion acquisition of Viatris’ biosimilars business and a successful IPO for Biocon-backed Bicara Therapeutics. Despite initially aspiring to be a doctor, she became a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, donating $7.5 million to cancer research in 2019.

The top spots on the list were held by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank; and, Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy.

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen is a German politician, serving as the 13th president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding positions in Angela Merkel’s cabinet, most recently as federal minister of defense. She was re-elected to head the Commission in July 2024. She was brought up bilingually in German and French, and moved to Germany in 1971 when her father became involved in German politics. She graduated from the London School of Economics in 1978, and in 1987, she acquired her medical license from Hanover Medical School. After marrying fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen, she lived for four years in the United States with her family in the 1990s.

Christine Lagarde (born January 1, 1956, Paris, France) is a French lawyer and politician who was the first woman to serve as Frances finance minister (200711); as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 201119); and, as President of the European Central Bank (2019 till date). Lagarde was educated in the United States and France.

Giorgia Meloniis anItalianpolitician who has been serving as theprime minister of Italysince October 2022, the first woman to hold this position.As Italy’s first female prime minister, she has created history by leading a right-wing coalition since World War II. She has also been the president of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) since 2014.