Angela Merkel Tops Forbes Most-Powerful Women List, Nirmala Sitharaman Stands At THIS Spot

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has topped the Forbes 2019 list of ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ for the continuous 9th year. She was followed by President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde while Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi got the third rank.

Three Indians have also been included among top 100 powerful women with Nirmala Sitharaman getting the 34th spot.

Nadar Malhotra, CEO of HCL Corporation being has been ranked 54th while Mazumdar-Shaw, India’s richest self-made woman and founder of the country’s largest biopharmaceutical firm Biocon in 1978, has notched the 65th spot in the list.

Sitharaman, a newcomer on the Forbes most powerful women list, is ranked 34th. She is India’s first female finance minister and she has also served as the country’s defence minister.

Sitharaman is the first female to hold the portfolio full time. Before this, former prime minister Indira Gandhi briefly took the additional charge of the ministry.

Referring to Nancy Pelosi’s ‘Don’t mess with me’ remark to a reporter, Forbes said that could be the mantra for just about every one of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women.

“The top-ranked woman for the ninth year in a row, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is crusading against anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe; Taylor Swift is battling industry stalwarts and private equity firms over musician song-ownership rights; and 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg one of 23 newcomers to the list is fighting inaction on climate change and galvanizing millions of young people around the globe.”

(With PTI inputs)