NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked among the top 10 most powerful people in the world by Forbes.
In a list of the 74 most powerful people in the world topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a consecutive fourth year, Prime Minister Modi has managed to bag the ninth spot.
Forbes said that India’s populist prime minister remains hugely popular in his country of 1.3 billion people.
“Modi has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years during official visits with Barack Obama and Xi Jinping. He has also emerged as a key figure in the international effort to tackle climate change, as planetary warming will deeply affect millions of his country's rural and most vulnerable citizens,” Forbes said.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is ranked two and German Chancellor Angela Merkel managed to bag third position in the Forbes list.