New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made his debut among the world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th on the Forbes list topped by Russian President Vladimir Putinwho pipped his US counterpart Barack Obama for a second year in a row.
The list of 72 most powerful people in the world also included the names of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 36th, ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at 57th and Microsoft’s Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th.
On Modi, Forbes said “India’s newest rock star doesn’t hail from Bollywood. He is the newly elected Prime Minister who sailed into office in May with a landslide victory, ushering the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into power after decades of control by the Gandhi dynasty. Forbes described him as a “Hindu nationalist” and refereed to the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the state’s Chief Minister.
Modi is credited with massive reconstruction projects in his home state of Gujarat. His administration promises to bring economic rejuvenation to other beleaguered parts of India. The world is as impressed as the citizens of India: So far he’s toured the US and China and met with his Southeast Asian neighbours,” the magazine said.
This is the second year in a row that Putin carries the crown. Obama had previously been on the top of the list for every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former political and military leader of China, was ranked 1.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron slides up to number 10. The most powerful people in business are Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both ranked nine. The Forbes list of the ‘World’s 72 Most Powerful People’ who “rule the world” features 17 heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of about USD 48 trillion.
This year there are nine women on the list, representing 12 per cent of the worlds most powerful – in stark contrast to being 50 per cent of the world’s population. While the same number as last year, the inaugural list from 2009 included only three women leaders.
The list also includes French President Francois Hollande (17), Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei (19), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (22), Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu (26), Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (27), UN Secretary Geberal Ban Ki-moon (40), forner US President Bill Clinton (44), North Lorean leader Kim Jong-un (49) and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe (63).
Bureau Report
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