CT Logo

40 women professionals take charge of the digital command centre at Lanjigarh’s 5 MTPA refinery

Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, has announced the deployment of an all-women team to lead the Distributed Control System (DCS) at its alumina refinery in Lanjigarh, Odisha. A cohort of 40 trained women professionals will now steer the refinery’s nerve centre, one of the most technologically complex and safety critical areas of plant operations. Introduced on the occasion of International Women’s Day, this initiative marks a significant leap for women’s representation in core industrial and process control roles across India.

The DCS is central to the refinery, integrating hundreds of data streams to ensure seamless control over production workflows. By placing women in this digital function, Vedanta Aluminium reinforces its commitment to building an inclusive industrial workforce. Their role includes ‑real-time monitoring of process parameters, analysing operational trends, assessing safety alarms, and making swift decisions to maintain stable, efficient, and safe refinery operations.

Commenting on the milestone, Rajiv Kumar, CEO, Vedanta Aluminium, said: “At Vedanta Aluminium, empowering women to lead high-skill industrial roles is not an initiative, it is our direction as a company. As more women operate command centres, smelters, locomotives and safety systems, we are shaping a manufacturing ecosystem where gender is no barrier to excellence. Our long-term ambition of significantly increasing women’s participation reflects our belief that women will power the next leap of industrial growth.”

This development forms part of a broader transformation led by Vedanta Aluminium to expand opportunities for women in high-skill industrial roles. Anjanee Kumari, one of the team members, DCS, said, “Working in the command centre gives me the confidence that women can play a central role in manufacturing. I hope our team inspires many more young women to pursue careers in engineering and operations.”

Over the past few years, the company has commissioned India’s first fully women operated‑ potline and deployed more than 100 women across critical smelting and production functions. It has also introduced the country’s first all-women‑ locomotive engine crew within its aluminium operations, setting new benchmarks for inclusion in non‑traditional roles. Additionally, Vedanta Aluminium became the first company in Odisha to introduce women in night shifts. Strengthening its focus on safety and emergency readiness, the company has deployed Agnivahini, an all-women firefighting and emergency ‑response‑ unit that has trained over 100 women as frontline safety responders, enhancing preparedness and reinforcing a strong safety culture across its operations.

More recently, the company established an all-women‑ thermal power operations team to manage a 135 MW power unit, strengthening its leadership in gender-forward industrial practices. With a growing number of women now contributing across quality laboratories, digitalisation functions, and mining engineering roles, women’s representation in high technology, high-responsibility roles are on the rise across India’s manufacturing sector.

Women currently constitute 21% of Vedanta Aluminium’s workforce, a figure the company plans to raise to 35% and then 50% in the coming years. To support this goal, more than 50% of its entry-level hiring now comprises women, ensuring greater representation in future technical and leadership positions.

As India’s manufacturing and metals sectors expand to support a more technology-driven and resource intensive future, Vedanta Aluminium’s initiatives aim to ensure that women are not only part of this transformation but are playing a leading role in shaping it.