Obama tops Forbes' powerful list, Sonia #11, Assange dropped

Washington, Nov 3: US President Barack Obama topped Forbes' list of the world's most powerful people in 2011 by leaving behind Chinese President Hu Jintao from Number 1 spot on the magazine's annual rankings.

India's Congress Party President, Sonia Gandhi figured at the 11th position in the list while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh figured at the 19 position.

Sonia Gandhi, described by Forbes as "India's most powerful politician (who) has twice refused to serve as prime minister, delegating that job to Manmohan Singh" dropped two notches from her ninth position last year to be ranked the 11th most powerful person and 7th powerful woman.

Manmohan Singh, 79, "the incorruptible Cambridge and Oxford-educated economist (is) widely respected as the man behind India's economic reforms, which have led to the subcontinent's blistering growth over the last decade," too dropped a notch to be rated the 19th most powerful.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped the most powerful woman at number 4 where Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin grabbed number 2 with Hu Jintao securing the third position in the list.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at Number 5 was the first corporate executive on the list and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was placed at the ninth position from last year's Number 40, to be in between US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (No. 8) and British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10.

Other Indians on the list included Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani ranked 35th, India's top billionaire ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal at the 47th spot and Wipro chairman Azim Premji at the 61st position in the list.

Meanwhile, ten people dropped off the powerful list. Among them are Oprah Winfrey, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bin Laden, the late Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs and Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange.

OneIndia News