Tata Steel announced the winners of Season 8 of ‘Women of Mettle’, a pioneering scholarship programme designed to increase the participation of young women in India’s manufacturing workforce. This edition of ‘Women of Mettle’ saw more than 3,400 registrations from over 55 premier technical institutions, recording an 18% jump over the previous edition. The 3-member jury from Tata Steel that adjudicated this year’s competition comprised of; Rajiv Mangal, Vice President, Safety, Health & Sustainability, Sanjay Rajoria, General Manager, Jharia Division, and Anurag Saxena, Chief, Electrical Maintenance.

Swashreeta Senapati from NIT Rourkela emerged as the winner of ‘Women of Mettle’ Season 8 in a thrilling Grand Finale held in Jamshedpur on September 18. Muskan Kumari from NIT Jamshedpur bagged the first runner-up position, and Megha Mitra from ISM Dhanbad secured the second runner-up spot. 

Rajiv Mangal said, “I would like to congratulate all the winners of Women of Mettle Season 8. I would also like to thank all the participants, organisers, and fellow jury members for making this edition such a grand success. Since the launch of Women of Mettle in 2017, it has emerged as Tata Steel’s flagship programme to attract some of the best young women engineers in the country to experience first-hand what it is to work in one of the leading steel manufacturing companies in the world. The programme has also managed to raise awareness over the immense untapped opportunities for millions of Indian women in the country’s manufacturing sector, which also ensures we leverage India’s unique demography and contribute to its industrial growth.” 

Participants could register individually or in teams of two. The top 50 teams were selected through a cognitive and domain expertise test covering a wide range of subjects including mechanical, electrical, CS&IT, metallurgy, mining, etc. The selected teams spent a month and a half on the allocated projects and were guided by mentors from Tata Steel. Post the completion of the projects, a pre-finale round was conducted where the students presented a detailed presentation on their project’s topics to the panel of which 10 teams made it to the Grand Finale.

The top 10 teams received a scholarship of Rs 200,000 each, in addition to an opportunity to pursue a career at Tata Steel. They can join Tata Steel as a technical intern, and subsequently receive a pre-placement offer. The teams ranked 11-50, in the third year of their engineering course, will also be given an opportunity for a summer internship and pre-placement interview, depending on eligibility.

‘Women of Mettle’ is an intellectual marathon where young minds embark on a journey and rise to technical challenges. It allows students to experience diverse cross-functional challenges, as well as access to Tata Steel’s senior leadership who provide mentorship to the students. In addition to Women of Mettle, Tata Steel has also launched other student initiatives like 'QUEERious' for the LGBTQIA+ community, and 'Ananta Quest' for persons with disabilities, reinforcing the Company’s commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. The idea is to create a collaborative environment between students, academia, and industry, offering aspiring career opportunities to India’s brightest young talent.