By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Vidya Chhabria, the Indian origin chairperson of UAE-based Jumbo Group, has been included in the Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful women.
Placed at No. 97 in the list, she shares the honour with Indian American chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi, at No. 5, and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi at No. 6.
Chhabria became chairperson of the $2 billion conglomerate, the Jumbo Group, when her husband and takeover titan Manu Chhabria died in 2002, the US business magazine noted.
Headquartered in Dubai, the company oversees 28 companies operating in as many as 50 countries, with interests in durables, chemicals, machinery, liquor products and agriculture.
The company is best known for its ownership of Jumbo Electronics, one of the world’s largest distributors of consumer electronics, IT, telecom products and home appliances.
Two years after divesting most of its businesses in India, the Jumbo Group is considering re-entering India this year.
Ranking Angela Merkel, the first woman to become chancellor of Germany, No. 1 for a second year in a row, Forbes said: “She continued to impress the world with her cool leadership at two back-to-back summits.”
Placed above Nooyi and Sonia Gandhi were Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi at No. 2, Ho Ching, chief executive of Temasek Holdings, Singapore (No. 3) and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (No. 4).