Mantosh Sondhi was an

IOFS The Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) is a civil service of the Government of India. IOFS officers are Gazetted (Group A) defence-civilian officers under the Ministry of Defence. They are responsible for the administration of the Indian ...

officer. He served as the first General Manager of the

Heavy Vehicles Factory Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) is an armoured vehicle and battle tank manufacturing factory located at Avadi in Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is managed by Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVANI) of the Ministry of Defence, Gover ...

,https://www.cepm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/global-symposium-1993-brochure.pdf one of the 41

Indian Ordnance Factories The Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) (abbreviated: DOO(C&S)) is an authority under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Government of India. Its primary work is to management, give instructio ...

. He was the founding Chairman & Managing Director of

Bokaro Steel Plant Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) is located in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand. It is the fourth integrated public sector steel plant in India built with Soviet technology. It is the second largest steel plant in India after Bhilai Steel Plant and 3 ...

. He was the first IOFS officer and first non-IAS officer to hold the posts of

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

Ministry of Heavy Industries The Ministry of Heavy Industries is an executive agency of the Government of India. The Ministry entails for promoting the engineering industry viz. machine tools, heavy electrical, industrial machinery, and auto industry and administration o ...

Ministry of Steel The Ministry of Steel is an executive branch agency of the Government of India that is responsible for formulating all policies regarding steel production, distribution and pricing in India. As of June 2024, the ministry is headed by a Secretary ...

, Ministry of Mines and

Ministry of Coal The Ministry of Coal is an Indian government ministry headquartered in New Delhi. The portfolio is held by Cabinet Minister G. Kishan Reddy. The Ministry of Coal is charged with exploration of coal and lignite reserves in India, production, ...

. He studied engineering at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He was awarded

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 1968 by the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

. In 1995, he was decorated as Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland by the

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

. The headquarters of

Confederation of Indian Industry The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a Non-governmental organization, non-governmental business and industry organisation and advocacy group headquartered in New Delhi, India, founded in 1895. CII is a membership-based organisation. ...

is named in his honour. He was a member of the

Atomic Energy Commission of India The Atomic Energy Commission of India is the governing body of the Department of Atomic Energy (India), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. The DAE is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister. ...

. He also served as the Chairman of several MNCs such as

Ashok Leyland Ashok Leyland Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer, with its headquarters in Chennai. It is now owned by the Hinduja Group. It was founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors, which became Ashok Leyland in the year 1955 after collab ...

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

. His son is Vipin Sondhi, former CEO and MD of JCB India and

References

Indian Ordnance Factories Service officers {{India-bio-stub