Nooyi, Sonia in Forbes' list

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, chief executive-designate of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi, and ICICI Bank's Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia are on Forbes' list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

Gandhi occupies the 13th position on the list, while India-born Nooyi finds herself as the fourth most powerful woman. Joint chairpersons of ICICI Bank Gupte and Morparia are on the 93rd position, while Vidya Chhabria, chairperson of Jumbo Group, Dubai, is at the 95th spot.

Topping the list is Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the second position. Gandhi, says the magazine, "is widely revered, especially among the country's poor millions, and heads the 'left-leaning' party where she acts as opposition leader to pro-business Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."

The citation adds, "Gandhi frequently expresses concern that India's astounding economic growth is leaving the poor behind, and that her country is not doing enough to help its farmers."

It stresses that Gandhi heads the most powerful political party in India. "She won the general elections in May 2004, but then took a pass on the prime minister's job, giving it to Singh," it notes.

The listing is based on a power ranking that, the magazine says, is composite of visibility (measured by press citation) and economic impact.

In its citation for Nooyi, Forbes says few people could handle either the presidential or the chief financial officer's job at a company like PepsiCo.

But not only has Nooyi held both offices since 2001, she was recently hand-picked to become Pepsi's new chief executive. Nooyi has a string of career successes that helped her land the corner office at the food and beverage giant.

She was the lead negotiator on Pepsi's $3.8 billion purchase of Quaker Oats, and worked on its acquisition of Tropicana, as well as the spin-offs of its restaurant and bottling businesses.

Previously, Nooyi was an executive at Asea Brown Boveri, Motorola, and Boston Consulting Group. Before emigrating to the US from India in 1978, Nooyi was a product manager at Johnson & Johnson and Mettur Beardsell, a textile outfit, in India.

Lalita Gupte, an ICICI lifer, has held a variety of positions in the bank since 1971, and is now in charge of its international business arm, Forbes says.

Gupte is the joint managing director, along with Morparia, of India's second-largest bank, which boasts of total assets of about $38.5 billion. The bank has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Russia.

Morparia joined the bank in 1975, and heads the corporate centre that formulates strategy for its different units. Morparia, who has a law degree from Mumbai University, is responsible for risk management, audits, and compliance, the magazine notes.