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Sonia, Manmohan among 20 most powerful: Forbes

Obama bumped Chinese President Hu Jintao from the No. 1 spot on the magazine's annual rankings to the third place with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin taking the second position.

Updated on: Nov 03, 2011 01:23 PM IST
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India's Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh figured among Forbes' list of world's 70 most powerful people in 2011 as US Barack Obama regained his position at the top.

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HT Image

Obama bumped Chinese President Hu Jintao from the No. 1 spot on the magazine's annual rankings to the third place with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin taking the second position.

Sonia Gandhi, 64, described as "India's most powerful politician (who) has twice refused to serve as prime minister, delegating that job to Manmohan Singh" dropped two notches from her ninth position last year to be ranked the 11th most powerful person and 7th powerful woman.

Manmohan Singh, 79, "the incorruptible Cambridge- and Oxford-educated economist (is) widely respected as the man behind India's economic reforms, which have led to the subcontinent's blistering growth over the last decade," too dropped a notch to be rated the 19th most powerful.

Other Indians on the list included Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani ranked 35th, India's top billionaire ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal in the 47th spot and Wipro chairman Azim Premji at the 61st spot.

Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, 76, living in exile in India was ranked 51st, a notch behind former US President Bill Clinton.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained the most powerful woman at No. 4 on the list, as Europe's largest economy continued to wield its influence over the troubled European Union.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is at No. 5 on the list while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has skyrocketed from No. 40 to No. 9, sandwiched between US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (No. 8) and British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10.

The king of the world's largest oil producer Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, came in at No. 6 and Pope Benedict XVI was No. 7.

New Apple CEO Tim Cook (58th), Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (14th), and new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde are among 14 newcomers.

Ten people dropped off the list, among them Oprah Winfrey, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bin Laden, the late Steve Jobs and Julian Assange.

 
Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.
Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.
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