Indian American Indra Nooyi, world's third most powerful woman

New York, Aug.28 : Indian American Indra Nooyi, the Chairman and CEO of Pepsico U.S., has been ranked as the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.

According to the magazine, Nooyi is the highest-ranked woman in business as she successfully expands the food and beverage giant internationally to counter a decline in Americans' preference for soda and chips.

The magazine has come out with a list of 100 most powerful women, and the two who have beaten Nooyi to the top are German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Sheila C Blair, the Chairman of the U.S.-based Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The first 25 of the 100 top powerful women are as follows with their name, rank and country:

1 Angela Merkel Chancellor Germany

2 Sheila C. Bair Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. U.S.

3 Indra K. Nooyi Chairman, chief executive, PepsiCo U.S.

4 Angela Braly Chief executive, president, WellPoint U.S.

5 Cynthia Carroll Chief executive, Anglo American U.K.

6 Irene B. Rosenfeld Chairman, chief executive, Kraft Foods U.S.

7 Condoleezza Rice Secretary of state U.S.

8 Ho Ching Chief executive, Temasek Holdings Singapore

9 Anne Lauvergeon Chief executive, Areva France

10 Anne Mulcahy Chairman, chief executive, Xerox Corp. U.S.

11 Gail Kelly Chief executive and managing director, Westpac Bank Australia

12 Patricia A. Woertz Chairman, chief executive, president, Archer Daniels Midland U.S.

13 Cristina Fernandez President Argentina

14 Christine Lagarde Minister of economy, finance and employment France

15 Safra A. Catz President and chief financial officer, Oracle U.S.

16 Carol B. Tome Executive vice president and chief financial officer, Home Depot U.S.

17 Yulia Tymoshenko Prime minister Ukraine

18 Mary Sammons Chairman, chief executive, president, Rite Aid U.S.

19 Andrea Jung Chairman, chief executive, Avon U.S.

20 Marjorie Scardino Chief executive, Pearson PLC U.K.

21 Sonia Gandhi President, Indian National Congress Party India

22 Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Chief Executive and President, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation U.S.

23 Sri Mulyani Indrawati Coordinating minister for economic affairs and finance minister ndonesia

24 Dr. Julie Gerberding Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention U.S.

25 Michelle Bachelet President Chile n total, the women ranked on this list control 26 trillion dollars worldwide. Forbes , however, opines that while individual female leaders continue to climb higher, women as a group are making only modest gains.

Women have hovered for a decade around 46 percent of the American labor force, but they hold only 15 percent of top corporate jobs; less than three percent of the country's biggest companies have female chief executives, according to research nonprofit Catalyst.

The list comprises 54 businesswomen and 23 politicians, with the rest being media executives and personalities and non-profit leaders. A third are newcomers to the rankings.

Just under half the women ranked this year are based outside of the U.S. Top countries represented include the U.K. (five women), China (four), France, India and the Netherlands (three apiece).

ANI