Dr. Archana Singh
Delhi, India
Dr. Archana Singh is a development strategist focused on advancing gender inclusion, workforce development, and sustainable growth across industries. She shares insights on creating opportunities for women in manufacturing and building a more inclusive future through policy, technology, and leadership.
Career Summary
Dr. Archana Singh is a development strategist with a rare cross-sector career spanning education, public health, gender, child rights and protection, skilling, disability, EV, climate, conflict settings, art therapy, and corporate sustainability—with the credibility to move fluidly between global policy tables and grassroots realities. She has led $2B+ public-private programs impacting 50M+ people, co-authored the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, enabled 1 crore livelihoods through skilling reforms, institutionalized disability inclusion, and embedded AI-enabled monitoring across 14 lakh Anganwadis. Known for “working herself out of a job,” she brings together trust, diplomacy, policy, finance, technology, and execution to build institutions and systems that are designed to last.
Favorite Quote
"In the age of AI, what you know matters less than how willing you are to learn.”
Career Journey
My journey into manufacturing began when I started asking a simple but important question: why are women still missing from the supply chains of emerging industries like electric vehicles? I wanted to change that, and that led me to Hero MotoCorp in 2021–22, where I began working on how women could be skilled for non-traditional roles such as EV technicians and brought into manufacturing ecosystems in a more intentional way.
What drew me in was not manufacturing in the conventional sense, but its power to create large-scale economic opportunity. I saw manufacturing as a space where skilling, gender inclusion, and industry transformation could come together—and that became my entry point into the sector.
Current Role & Focus
My work today sits where gender, policy, and the future collide. Shaped by lived experience and years of working across global platforms like the G20 in India and Africa and the AI Summit 2026, I am focused on making sure gender is not treated as an afterthought, but built into the DNA of policy, technology, and systems from the start.
At its core, my work is about one thing: ensuring inclusion keeps pace with innovation. Whether I am working on global agendas, partnerships, or emerging areas like AI, my role is to bring a strong gender lens to the tables where the future is being designed.
Defining Moment
Yes—one of the biggest turning points in my leadership journey was realizing that titles, designations, and positions are often an illusion. What truly endures is not the authority you hold, but the heart, empathy, and humanity you bring to the work.
That realization shaped me deeply. It made me clear that the kind of leader I want to be is one who creates impact with heart—keeping people, dignity, and lived realities at the center, and making sure that whatever I build or influence ultimately brings about meaningful difference in human lives.
Challenges & Lessons
One of the biggest challenges I have seen in manufacturing is that the ecosystem is often not designed with women at the center. From something as basic as the absence of women’s toilets, to shift structures that do not account for safety and mobility, to shop-floor cultures where men are still seen as naturally more capable, the barriers are often built into the system itself rather than created by women’s lack of ability.
That taught me a powerful lesson: inclusion cannot be retrofitted; it has to be designed in from the start. Whether it is a plant, a skilling program, or a workforce strategy, I have learned that when gender is placed at the core of design—through infrastructure, policy, sensitisation, and leadership commitment—you do not just make manufacturing more inclusive, you make it stronger, fairer, and future-ready.
Industry Perspective
Yes—the opportunity has definitely evolved, even if the pace is still not enough. In India, official data shows that manufacturing accounted for about 16% of urban women’s employment in 2015–16, and that rose to 24.1% by 2023–24, which tells me that more women are entering the sector than before. At the same time, the factory floor is still far from equal: an analysis of Annual Survey of Industries data found that women made up 19.7% of workers in formal manufacturing in 2019–20, and that share had remained broadly flat for nearly two decades, so progress is real, but structural gaps remain.
Future of Manufacturing
What excites me most about the future of manufacturing is that it is no longer just about production—it is becoming a space where innovation, intelligence, and inclusion can come together at scale. AI is already changing manufacturing through predictive maintenance, quality control, automation, digital twins, and smarter, software-driven operations, which means factories of the future can become more efficient, more adaptive, and far more responsive than ever before.
What excites me even more is the possibility that this transformation can be shaped more intentionally than past industrial shifts. As manufacturing becomes more data-led and technology-enabled, we have a chance to design systems that are not only productive, but also more inclusive, more sustainable, and more human-centred—and that is where I see the real opportunity. Deloitte’s recent outlook points to continued investment in smart manufacturing and AI for competitiveness, while broader 2025–26 research also emphasizes that the real value of AI comes when organizations pair technology with the right talent, operating models, and adoption practices.
Advice for Women in Manufacturing
My advice to women considering manufacturing or aspiring to leadership in the sector is this: first believe, deeply and unapologetically, that you belong there. So much of the hesitation women carry is not about capability, but about conditioning—and the first barrier we must break is the one in our own minds.
Once you are clear in your own head and heart, the next step is to claim your space and your voice. Speak up, step into the rooms where decisions are being made, and do not wait for permission to participate in shaping the future of the sector. Manufacturing needs more women not just on the shop floor, but at the tables where systems, policies, and leadership cultures are being designed.
Key Skills for Future Leaders
Additional Insights