Sweeping the country during the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 with the 'Modi wave', India's newest rock star has been named at #15 on the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people.
"His administration promises to bring economic rejuvenation to other beleaguered parts of India. The world is as impressed as the citizens of India: So far he's toured the U.S. and China, and met with his Southeast Asian neighbors," Forbes reports.
At #1 Russian President Vladimir Putin has been named the world’s most powerful person for the second time in a row.
In 2014 he sent troops with the aim of possession of Crimea and also waged a proxy war in Ukraine. "But as the undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head of an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped state, no one would ever call him weak," Forbes states.
Mentioned at #4 on the list, Pope Francis has made his mission to transform the image of the Catholic Church from a conservative to a more tolerant one. In a move that shocked people worldwide Pope Francis accepted the theories of evolution and the Big Bang as true by saying that God was not a magician with a magic wand.
He has also talked about accepting homosexuals into the church by adding “Who am I to judge?”
Ranked at #36 Mukesh Ambani is the second Indian after Narendra Modi mentioned on the list. With a business empire ranging from ventures in petrochemicals manufacturing, oil and gas production to wireless sectors, Mukesh Ambani has been named as the richest person in India a whopping eight times in a row with an estimated total net worth of $22.8 Billion.
Image courtesy: Forbes.com
Followed by India's Mukesh Ambani, Laksmi Mittal is the third Indian on the list at #57. With a total net worth of $14.3 he is the CEO and chair of ArcelorMittal the world's biggest steelmaker.
First row (from left-right): Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Bill Gates
;Second row (from left to right) Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg
With Sergey Brin and Larry Page at #9, Bill Gates at #7,Tim Cook at #25 , Jeff Bezos at #17 and at Mark Zuckerberg #22 the tech executives are dominating the list.
The new CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella is mentioned at #64 on the list. "The new chief executive of Microsoft as of February is bent on bringing relevance back. He'll have help: Bill Gates has promised a part-time return to the $343.8 billion market value tech company he cofounded nearly 40 years ago as "founder and technology advisor." At issue is how to meet the radical shift from PCs and software to mobile and the cloud as well as recovering from this year's massive layoffs of 18,000 employees," Forbes reports.
Image courtesy: Forbes.com
At #54 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the chief of a Sunni, extremist, jihadist unrecognized state and self-proclaimed caliphate based in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East (ISIS), he is the self-proclaimed caliph of the ISIS.
“al-Baghdadi might appear to be the weakest new member of our list of the World's Most Powerful -- especially if you judge by his probable life-expectancy,” Forbes says.
Image courtesy: Forbes.com
At #6 on the list followed by Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Janet Yellen is the second woman named among the top 10 in the list.
The former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Yellen was the first woman to head the most influential central bank in the world. “ In October the Fed announced a cap on its six-year bond buying campaign but said it will keep short-term interest rates near zero. Top on her to-do list: repair the American dream,” Forbes states.
The President of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi has not been mentioned this year following the colossal defeat her party faced in the 2014 general elections of India. Named at #21 in 2013, Gandhi finds no mention in the list at all this year.
Business Standard is happy to inform you of the launch of "Business Standard Premium Services"
As a premium subscriber you get an across device unfettered access to a range of services which include:
Access Exclusive content - articles, features & opinion pieces
Weekly Industry/Genre specific newsletters - Choose multiple industries/genres
Access to 17 plus years of content archives
Set Stock price alerts for your portfolio and watch list and get them delivered to your e-mail box
End of day news alerts on 5 companies (via email)
NEW: Get seamless access to WSJ.com at a great price. No additional sign-up required.
Premium Services
In Partnership with
Dear Guest,
Welcome to the premium services of Business Standard brought to you courtesy FIS.
Kindly visit the Manage my subscription page to discover the benefits of this programme.