By IANS
New Delhi : Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi Mittal and PeosiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi are among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune magazine.
While Mittal is ranked 14th, Tata and Nooyi are placed at the 22nd and 23rd positions, respectively, on the magazine’s list – which is part of its latest cover story.
The top slot has been taken by Apple’s Steeve Jobs, followed by media baron Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and Google’s founder-CEO trio Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergei Brin.
“Some are empire builders. Others are hired guns. But if they truly have world-class oomph, they’re on Fortune’s subjective – yet really quite accurate – list of the most powerful businesspeople in the world,” says Fortune.
On Tata, 69, the magazine says he is the head of one of India’s most venerated family businesses and enjoys a unique stature. The group has interests in areas like software, hotels, steel, consulting, and wireless and cable services.
“Since taking over in 1991, Tata has made numerous big-ticket deals. But his heart is set on a project closer to home: creating a $2,500 car that middle-class Indians can buy,” the magazine says.
On Mittal, 57, Fortune says had he remained in his native India and joined the family steel company, odds were that he would merely be a prosperous local businessman.
“Instead he set out on his own and became the Andrew Carnegie of our era, with operations in more than 60 countries, 320,000 employees – and a personal fortune of more than $40 billion,” the magazine adds.
“He built his empire on a bet that steel had great future for someone who could achieve sufficient scale. After purchasing former state-owned companies in east Europe, Mittal bought into the US in 2004 and last year won a bruising battle for Europe’s Arcelor.”
Today his company is three times the size of its nearest competitor, and Mittal has become a symbol of globalisation, the magazine adds.
On Chennai-born Indra Nooyi, the magazine says she is smart, irreverent with a global perspective, making her the most powerful woman in business.
“She was the main architect of the dramatic reshaping of Pepsi that began in the mid-1990s,” says the magazine, adding she was responsible for putting Pepsi a decade ahead of competition by fashioning some far-reaching deals.