Sonia, Manmohan named among top 5 most influential Asians

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi have been named among top 5 in the world's 100 most influential list of Asians topped by China's new President Xi Jinping.

"She is the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, who rule the Lok Sabha, the Indian Lower Political House and also the most powerful, with the ability to instigate a vote of no-confidence in the Upper House, removing them from office," said 'The Asian Awards Top 100' in reference to GandhiShe came in as the second most influential on the list followed by Chinese Premier Le Keqiang released as part of the annual Asian Awards held in London yesterday.

Prime Minister Singh was ranked No 4 for having "1.2 billion subjects under his rule and a GDP of nearly $2 trillion."

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi placed at 5th position for being "tipped as the country's next Prime Minister". 

"Countless hours of research and deliberation went into creating this list and I am confident it will become a definitive guide of measuring influence among those of Asian origin. The aim of the list is simple, to showcase the most influential Asian people in the world today, said Paul Sagoo, founder of The Asian Awards and its associated influential list.

The list was topped by Chinese President Xi, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

"Wealth and political influence ranked highly amongst the categories," said Paul Sagoo, founder of The Asian Awards and its associated influential list, which was topped by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

Among the other key Indians to make the grade included Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani for owning "India's most valuable company", in ninth place, followed by President Pranab Mukherjee at 19th place and steel magnate Lakshmi N Mittal at 20th position.

Indian entries dominated the Top 100 with 39 names, followed by 15 from China and six from the Philippines.

Politics and business proved the most widely represented fields.

While Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy was named Philanthropist of the Year, industrialist Adi Godrej bagged Entrepreneur of the Year award for his contribution to Indian industry and Ravi Ruia, vice-chairman of the Essar Group, won in the Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability category, for his company's high sustainability ratings.

The other winners across different categories included actors Anupam Kher and Nina Wadia for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema and Television respectively and author Hanif Kureishi for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

British actor of Indian-origin, Sir Ben Kingsley, best known for his role of Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's 1984 film, had already been announced as the winner of this year's Fellowship Award.

The Founder's Award being posthumously presented to Chinese American actor Bruce Lee.