Modi ranks 13th in global list of most influential people

Fed chief Yellen tops the annual Bloomberg ranking, China's Xi Jinping ranked second

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has lately hogged limelight in India and abroad as a rockstar politician with a huge fan base, is ranked 13th  among the world’s top 50 people in the fifth edition of the ‘Bloomberg Markets Most Influential' list.

This is an annual ranking of the most popular politicians, economists, bankers, tech-executives, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and money managers.

While US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen tops the Bloomberg list, Chinese President Xi Jinping is on the second spot. Among other politicians ranked above Modi are US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is ranked third, while BlackRock co-founder Larry Fink is a surprise entrant at number four, ahead of legendary investor Warren Buffet. The only other Indian on the list of 50 people is 41-year-old Ruchir Sharma (50th ), who heads emerging markets and global macros at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

In an accompanying report, Bloomberg writes about Modi: “He won election in May 2014 by the widest margin in 30 years, giving himself a shot at making some investment-friendly reforms that have faced stubborn resistance in the world’s largest democracy. India might grow faster than China this year.”

“In selecting our influential elite, we favour recent accomplishments over lifetime achievements. Half the people here have never appeared on our list before. Tech executives and entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists who fund them are ascendant of late, and the list reflects that. China, for better or worse, is vital to global markets, and we have a bigger Asia cohort than ever,” Bloomberg said.

Earlier, a report of the World Economic Forum had shown India climbing 16 positions to rank 55th on a global index of the world’s most competitive economies. The country’s progress has mainly been attributed to the several initiatives taken by a year-old Modi government at the Centre.