New Delhi: India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, HCL Corporation CEO and Executive Director Roshni Nadar Malhotra, and Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw have been named among the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes for the year 2020.
All three were a part of the list last year too.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the Forbes 2020 list, followed by European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde and US Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, who has made her debut on the list at No.3. Merkel has bagged the No.1 slot every year since 2006, barring 2010 when then-US First Lady Michelle Obama topped the list.
Sitharaman is ranked 41th, a seven-place slide from last year, while Nadar Malhotra is down one spot at 55th. Mazumdar-Shaw has also slipped in the rankings — she’s now 68th, down three spots.
Sitharaman is the first woman to hold the finance — and earlier, defence — portfolios full-time in India, though Indira Gandhi had held these portfolios in her time as prime minister.
Nadar Malhotra is the daughter of HCL founder Shiv Nadar, and took over the HCL Technologies chairperson’s role from him in July 2020. She is responsible for all strategic decisions for the $8.9 billion IT major.
Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder of India’s largest listed biopharmaceutical firm Biocon.
Also read: Ambani, Adani, Shiv Nadar, Hindujas — Here is the full list of Forbes 100 richest Indians
World leaders
The women on the 17th annual power list hail from 30 countries and were born across four generations. Ten heads of state, 38 CEOs and five entertainers found a mention in the list.
The list also includes philanthropist Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (5th), Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives (7th), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (22nd), Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (39th), Queen Elizabeth II (46th) and music icons Rihanna (69th) and Beyonce (72nd).
Forbes said on the release of the rankings: “The leaders on Forbes’ 2020 list of the World’s Most Powerful Women are playing a critical role in determining what the post-pandemic world will look like. Their influence is being leveraged beyond economic and political might to transform industries and solve for society’s most urgent issues. The power they hold to move us all forward has never been more apparent — or needed.”
The list also features politicians who are steering the world towards recovery amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“All eyes have been on the world’s youngest head of government, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin (85th), who put in place decisive measures to limit the spread of the virus, along with New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern (32th), whose swift lockdowns successfully eliminated the virus in both its first and second waves,” Forbes said.
Disclosure: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is among the distinguished founder-investors of ThePrint. Please click here for details on investors.
Also read: Shaheen Bagh ‘dadi’ Bilkis Bano, three other Indians in BBC’s 2020 list of inspiring women