Four Indians among world's most powerful women

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 21 August 2009, 00:02 IST   |    41 Comments
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Four Indians among world's most powerful women
New York: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, CEO and Managing Director of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, Pepsico CEO, Indra Nooyi and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman of Biocon India are among the world's 100 most powerful women. Kochhar has debuted at number 20, while Gandhi is ranked 13 in the list compiled by Forbes. Leading the list is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Indian-origin Chief Executive of Pepsico, Indra Nooyi has retained her third position in the list. Besides Gandhi and Kochhar, Biocon's Chairman, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw also features in the list at number 91. Gandhi improved her ranking from 21 last year to 13 this year, while Mazumdar Shaw moved to 91 from last year's 99th place. Uttar Pradesh CM, Mayawati who was ranked 59th in last year's list, failed to figure in the latest list. On Gandhi, Forbes said, "She is still the country's dominant force since she reluctantly entered politics in the 1990s." Regarding Kochhar, it said, "She now oversees a bank with assets of $100 billion." Kochhar has been instrumental in transforming the retail business of ICICI Bank and turning it into a retail banking powerhouse. Those listed among the top ten include, Anglo American Chief Cynthia Carroll, Temasek CEO Ho Ching, Kraft Foods Chief Irene Rosenfeld, DuPont head Ellen Kullman, WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, Areva Chief Anne Lauvergeon and Sunoco Head Lynn Elsenhans. While U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is ranked at 36, Michelle Obama the first lady of the U.S. is ranked (40). In assembling this list, Forbes looks for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. "Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility - by press mentions - and the size of the organization or country these women lead," the U.S. based magazine said.

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