Narendra Modi, Mukesh Ambani Among World’s Most Powerful People: Forbes

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has retained his position as the ninth most powerful person in the world in the Forbes magazine’s 2018 list, which was released on May 8.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, emerged as the most powerful person on the list, dethroning Russian President Vladimir Putin after four years.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who was at No.2 last year, fell to the third position, behind Putin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel came up fourth for winning a “hard-fought election” for her fourth term as the chancellor. The magazine called Merkel, who has been leading Germany since 2005, the “de facto leader of Europe.”

The list, consisting of 75 people, features two more Indians. Besides Modi, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and Satya Nadella, the Indian-origin CEO of Microsoft, figure at No. 32 and No. 40, respectively.

“Modi has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years during official visits with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. He has also emerged as a key figure in the international effort to tackle climate change, as warming affects millions of his country’s rural citizens,” Forbes said.

The magazine, which called Modi “populist,” also mentioned his unexpected announcement in November 2016 to “eliminate India’s two largest banknotes in a bid to reduce money laundering and corruption.”

Ambani was included in the list as “Reliance sparked a price war in India’s hyper-competitive telecom market” with Reliance Jio and “signed on 160 million customers by offering free domestic voice calls, dirt-cheap data services and virtually free smartphones.” He has a net worth of $41.6 billion.

Forbes attributed Nadella for the 150 per cent increase in Microsoft’s stock since he took over. “He has steered the company away from a failing mobile strategy and focused on other segments, including cloud computing and augmented reality,” the magazine said.

There are 17 new names in the list this year, including Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, popularly known as MBS. The First Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia entered the list at No. 8. Another new entrant is Jerome H. Powell, who was appointed as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, United States in February 2018. He was ranked 11, and is followed by the new French President Emmanuel Macron, another new name on the list.

Macron had taken a “firm stance after Trump announced U.S. will leave the Paris climate accord, noting that the agreement will not be renegotiated,” Forbes said.