Nooyi, Sonia in Forbes' powerful women list

London, Aug 31: Pepsico CEO and Indian American Indra Nooyi is the fifth most powerful woman in the world, according to the latest Forbes list on wealthy and powerful women.

Nooyi is preceded in the rankings by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in first place for the second year running, Chinese Vice President Wu Yi, Ho Ching, the CEO of Singapore Investment firm Temasek Holdings and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, reports The Scotsman.

Queen Elizabeth the Second, Clara Furse, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, and the Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid all feature in the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, compiled by Forbes.

Queen Elizabeth is placed at number 23, with Forbes crediting her rise from 46 last year to the length of her reign and "increasing media favourability". Furse was 54th and Hadid at 68.

Former British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who last year's most powerful British woman and ranked 29th in the world, has been dropped from this year's list after being replaced by David Miliband.

Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has also failed to make the list for the second year running after being named the 62nd most powerful woman in 2005.

Cynthia Carroll, the chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, is the highest-ranking newcomer, at No7.

The rankings are based on "influence", "economic impact" and media "reach".

The ten most powerful women in the world according to Forbes are:

1. Angela Merkel (German chancellor)
2. Wu Yi (Chinese vice-premier)
3. Ho Ching (Temasek Holdings)
4. Condoleezza Rice (US Secretary of State)
5. Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo)
6. Sonia Ghandi (Indian National Congress Party)
7. Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American)
8. Patricia Wortz (Archer Daniels Midland)
9. Irene Rosenfeld (Kraft Foods)
10. Patricia Russo (Alcatel-Lucent)

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