UDAIPUR (India CSR): As India celebrates its 80th Independence Day, Hindustan Zinc Limited, the world’s largest integrated zinc producer and one of the world’s top ten silver producers, is advancing women’s economic independence across two distinct landscapes of India’s growth story – enabling women in rural communities to build independent incomes and enterprises, while creating opportunities for women to lead high-tech roles across modern manufacturing.
Across rural Rajasthan, this is taking shape as women gain access to finance, build sustainable livelihoods and turn traditional income-generating activities into independent enterprises. Across Hindustan Zinc’s tech-first mines and smelters in Rajasthan, a new generation of women engineers, operators and technologists is taking on roles in core operations, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and automation. Together, these efforts reflect the company’s approach to creating economic agency, from financial independence at the grassroots in rural Rajasthan to leadership in the industries shaping India’s future.
At the grassroots, Hindustan Zinc’s flagship Sakhi initiative, aimed at empowering rural women, has connected more than 25,000 women through Self-Help Groups, enabling access to savings, credit and entrepreneurial training to build sustainable livelihoods. Farzana, a production associate with Sakhi Utpadan Samiti, transitioned from informal domestic labour to earn approximately ₹3.47 lakh annually through structured textile and FMCG production. During the COVID-19 lockdown, her unit adapted to produce cloth masks, helping sustain incomes while also supporting public health during a critical period.
Amarendu Prakash, CEO, Hindustan Zinc, said, “Independence gave us the freedom to shape our destiny as a nation; economic independence gives every individual the power to shape their own. At Hindustan Zinc, we believe our responsibility goes beyond creating economic value to creating opportunities that enable people to progress. For us, that means ensuring that a woman in a rural community has the means to build an enterprise, just as a young woman entering manufacturing has the opportunity to lead its most advanced technologies. As India moves towards Viksit Bharat, we remain committed to enabling more women to build livelihoods, pursue aspirations and take their place at the forefront of India’s next chapter of growth.”
Through its Samadhan initiative, Hindustan Zinc is similarly enabling women to strengthen agriculture and livestock-based livelihoods through technical and market support. Prem Bai Vyas from Matoon village has scaled her dairy enterprise from managing 10 litres of milk a day, with payments often delayed through middlemen, to producing approximately 85 litres daily. Today, she earns more than Rs 90,000 a month, receives payments directly into her bank account and independently manages a 20-cattle unit, transforming a traditional livelihood into a reliable and growing rural enterprise.
While women across rural communities are building financial independence through livelihoods and entrepreneurship, another transformation is taking place within Hindustan Zinc’s mines and smelters. Today, women comprise 26.3% of Hindustan Zinc’s workforce, the highest in India’s metals and mining sector, while 62% of the company’s employees are under 35, making it one of the youngest and most inclusive workforces in the industry.
Women at Hindustan Zinc today work underground, operate heavy equipment, manage critical processes across shifts, participate in mine rescue operations and lead technology-intensive functions involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and digitalisation. Through Tejaswini, all-women teams are managing operations across shifts in the Leaching & Purification section at the world’s single largest smelting location – Chanderiya Smelting Complex, further expanding women’s participation in core manufacturing.
At Zinc Smelter Debari (India’s first zinc smelting site), Swapnil Thori, Lead – Digitalisation and an IIT Delhi graduate, is leading AI and ML-led transformation across smelters and power plants. Her innovations span consumable optimisation, predictive maintenance and process integration, with her work earning her and her team many accolades. Her journey showcases how women are not simply entering traditionally male-dominated industrial domains but are increasingly leading the technological transformation of manufacturing operations.
Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, continues to embed inclusion across its broader business and social impact strategy, with a focus on education, skilling, healthcare, community development and creating equitable pathways to economic participation. As India advances towards Viksit Bharat @2047, the company remains committed to translating growth into wider opportunity and ensuring that the progress it creates extends beyond its operations to the communities and people around them.
(India CSR)
