Forbes most powerful: Modi ahead of French and UK counterparts
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is once again among Forbes top 10 most powerful leaders of the world. Ranked at number 9 and ahead of his French and UK counterparts, the Indian Prime Minister has come a long way from his ranking in 2014. He ranked 15th (2014), then 14th (2015) and 9th (2016). Ranked 32nd, another Indian on the list is Mukesh Ambani.
Xi Jinping dethrones Vladimir Putin
Chinese President Xi Jinping stole the show as he replaced Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to become the most influential a.k.a the most powerful person on the planet.
Sonia Gandhi ranked higher than Manmohan Singh in 2012
In the 2012 Forbes list of 'The World's Most Powerful People' Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi both made to the list, but not as high as PM Modi. Bizarre is the fact that Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India, was ranked 19th, significantly lower as compared to Sonia Gandhi who was ranked 12th. In 2013, his ranked slipped to 23rd position.
How is the ranking calculated?
Forbes measures the person's power along four dimensions. Firstly, whether the person "has power over lots of people." Then the financial resources of the person is calculated - GDP for state heads and company's assets for CEOs Then candidate's power is evaluated in multiple spheres. Finally, it's checked whether the candidate "uses his power". Then the results are calculated by Forbes editors.
