Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked among the top 10 most powerful
people in the world by Forbes in a list that has been topped by
Russian President Vladimir Putin for a fourth straight year and had
US President-elect Donald Trump in the second place. Modi ranks 9th
on the Forbes list of 74 of the World's Most Powerful People. Forbes
said India's populist prime minister remains hugely popular in his
country of 1.3 billion people. "Modi has raised his profile as a
global leader in recent years during official visits with Barack
Obama and Xi Jinping. He has also emerged as a key figure in the
international effort to tackle climate change, as planetary warming
will deeply affect millions of his country's rural and most
vulnerable citizens," Forbes said. It also took note of the
unexpected decision made by Modi last month to demonetise India's two
high value currency notes in a bid to reduce money laundering and
corruption, creating a nationwide frenzy to quickly swap out the
bills. The list has been topped by Putin, who retains the title of
the world's most powerful person for four years running. US President
Obama comes in on the 48th spot. "There are nearly 7.4 billion
humans on planet Earth, but these 74 men and women make the world
turn. Forbes' annual ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People
identifies one person out of every 100 million whose actions mean the
most," it said. Forbes said Russia's 64-year-old president has
exerted his country's influence in nearly every corner of the globe;
from the motherland to Syria to the US presidential elections,
continuing to "get what he wants". On the second spot is
70-year-old Trump who will become the first billionaire president of
the United States, after upsetting Hillary Clinton in a surprising
election victory. The list includes Reliance Industries Chairman
Mukesh Ambani on the 38the spot. Forbes said the 59-year-old oil and
gas tycoon sparked a price war in India's hyper competitive telecom
market with the launch of 4G phone service Jio at the annual
shareholder meeting of his Reliance Industries in September. "The
USD 44.7 billion (revenue) Reliance Industries is locked in a legal
battle with the government related to the recovery of costs
associated with developing a gas field," it said, adding that
his wife Nita, who sits on Reliance's board, is a member of the
International Olympic Committee. The list also includes Microsoft's
India-born CEO Satya Nadella on the 51st spot, with Forbes saying the
49-year-old has steered the company away from a failing mobile
strategy and focused on other lines of business, including cloud
computing and augmented reality. The third most powerful person in
the world also happens to be the most powerful woman: Angela Merkel,
the chancellor of Germany and the backbone of the European Union. The
list includes Xi on the 4th spot, Pope Francis (5), Microsoft
co-founder Bill Gates (7), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (10), French
President Francois Hollande (23), Apple CEO Tim Cook (32), North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un (43) and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
(57).
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