Forbes power list: Obama tops, 7 Indians featured

Bangalore, Nov 12: In its first ever 'World's Most Powerful People' list, Forbes has thrown quiet a few surprises.

Apart from heads of states, businessmen, artists and philanthropists, the list also features criminals and dons.

US President who was recently awarded with the Nobel Prize, Barack Obama tops the list to effectively win the title of the world's most powerful person. Interestingly, Obama's predecessor, George W Bush did not even make the final cut.

Two Indian businessmen have been featured on the list which ranks 67 powerful people in the world. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has been ranked 47 while Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata is placed in 59th slot.

Indian-origin steel baron, Lakshmi N Mittal who is the chairman of ArcelorMittal has claimed 55th rank.

Among the criminals, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and the Mexican drug trafficker Jaoquin Guzman figure in the list.

While Dawood, India's most wanted criminal has been ranked at no. 50, the world's dreaded terrorist is ranked at 37. And Guzman has been placed in the 41st place.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffett, and Apple chief Steve Jobs were among the others listed.

Seven most powerful Indians listed by Forbes included Sonia Gandhi, Nandan Nilekani, Dr Manmohan Singh, Ratan Tata, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Aamir Khan.

Forbes said that its first The World's Most Powerful People' list was compiled based on four major criteria including, number of people that a person influences; the person's ability to project power; financial resources that the person controls and up to what extent the person wields his/her power.

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