Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar among top 20 powerful women

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar ranked in the top 20 of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list compiled by Forbes.

Kochhar debuted at number 20, behind Gandhi who was ranked 13 in the list led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Indian-origin chief executive of Pepsico, Indra Nooyi, figured at number three after Sheila Bair, Chairperson of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Yahoo’s Carol Bartz was ahead of Gandhi at number 12 in the list. Besides Gandhi and Kochhar, Biocon’s chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw also featured 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. Nooyi retained her third position in the list.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who was ranked 59th in last year’s list, did not figure in the latest list put up on Forbes.Com.

Regarding Gandhi, Forbes said, she is “still the country’s dominant force since she reluctantly entered politics in the 1990s.” The landslide victory in the recent general election further strengthened her position as the leader of “India’s most powerful political party — Indian National Congress.

Kochhar was named as the first woman boss of India’s second largest lender, ICICI Bank, and took charge in May this year. “She now oversees a bank with assets of $100 billion,” Forbes said. She was instrumental in transforming the retail business of ICICI Bank and turning it into a retail banking powerhouse.