Fortune Ranks Indra Nooyi Third Most Powerful Women In Business

Making a huge jump in the rankings is General Motors CEO Mary Barra, who is ranked second this year up from the 29th position last year. Barra became the auto industry's first female CEO in January and promptly faced GM's largest vehicle recall ever, 29 million so far from a faulty ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths since 2005. The list also includes aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin's chairman, CEO, and president Marillyn Hewson at number 4, bioscience firm DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman at rank 5 and Hewlett-Packard chairman and CEO Meg Whitman on the 6th position.

Facebook's Sandberg slipped in the rankings from fifth postion to 10th. Fortune said last year was all about Sandberg as her bestselling book 'Lean In' helped her become the face of corporate gender equality. "This year is all about Facebook. Its 2013 profits jumped an astounding 2,730%, mainly because of increased revenue from mobile ads, and it announced huge deals in early 2014 to acquire virtual-reality company Oculus VR for over $2 billion and buzzy messaging platform WhatsApp for $19 billion," Fortune said.

As CEO Mark Zuckerberg's number two, Sandberg remains "crucial to the company's long-term strategy". She's also the best-paid woman on the list, making $38 million last year. The list also includes aerospace & defence company General Dynamics's CEO Phebe Novakovic on rank 11, Oracle co-president Safra Catz (14), Xerox chairman and CEO Ursula Burns (17), Procter & Gamble group president, North America Melanie Healey(18), YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (19), Intel president Rene James (21), Avon CEO Sheri McCoy (27), Apple senior vice president, retail and online stores Angela Ahrendts (29) and CEO, asset management at JP Morgan Chase Mary Erdoes (32).