'Sonia Gandhi India's Most Popular Woman'

New Delhi: Congress party Chief Sonia Gandhi is India's most popular woman followed by ICICI Bank chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar, claimed a business survey which was released yesterday.

The countrywide survey was conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) India and Zee-Business, among 2,000 corporate employees from 32 organisations and 200 employees from other organisations. They voted the two at the top from a list of 20 women.

Among the women politicians Sushma Swaraj was ranked at 16th position followed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was ranked at 20th position in the survey which was released on the eve of International Women's Day.

The survey, also positioned Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO, PepsiCo at the third position, while the fourth position was occupied by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon Ltd. chairman and managing director. Shikha Sharma, managing director and CEO, Axis Bank was at the sixth position.

Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vidya Balan were at fifth and seventh position, respectively, and Shabana Azmi was at the 13th position.

The survey which showcased the views of young women, interestingly put Mary Kom, a female boxer from Manipur at the eighth position.

Saina Nehwal, who won three international tournaments in badminton, achieved ninth rank in the survey.

Kiran Bedi was ranked 10th. Naina Lal Kidwai, country head of HSBC ranks at 11 and Swati Piramal, vice chairperson of Piramal Life Sciences limited ranks 12th, the survey said.

The survey also mentioned that Ekta Kapoor, the creative director of Balaji Telefilms ranked 14th for her entrepreneurial skills and achievements.

Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar was ranked at 15th position.

Vinita Bali, managing director, Britannia Industries ranks 18th followed by eminent Indian novelist Shobha De, who is often known as India's Jackie Collins, on the 19th position.

The survey was conducted during January and February. About 55 per cent of the survey respondents were in the age bracket of 20 to 29 years, followed by 30 to 39 years (26 percent), 40-49 years (16 percent) and 50-59 years (2 percent) while those above 60 were about one percent.

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