Five Indians among Forbes list of 100 most powerful women; Merkel on top

New Delhi: Five Indian women, including ICICI Bank Managing director Chanda Kochhar and CEO of HCL Technologies Roshni Nadar Malhotra, are in the new list of Forbes' world's 100 most powerful women who are building billion-dollar brands and calling the shots in the financial markets.

The Forbes “100 Most Powerful Women” in the world list 2017 is topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel has topped the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women for the seventh consecutive year, and for the 12th time in total.

55-year-old Bhattacharya has been ranked 32nd on the list, followed by Roshni Nadar Malhotra on the 57th spot, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (71), Shobhana Bhartia (92) and newcomer on the list Priyanka Chopra is on the 97th spot.

The top 5 include UK Prime Theresa May  (2), philanthriopist Melinda Gates (3), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (4) and GM CEO Mary Barra (5).

This year's list, ranked by dollars controlled, impact, spheres of influence and media presence, boasts of 23 newcomers.

At the 19th spot, Ivanka Trump is the second-highest ranked newcomer.

"Ivanka's step-mother Melania has mostly abdicated the first-lady spotlight (and doesn't appear on this year's list), but Ivanka has become a key player in the Donald Trump White House," Forbes said.

The 2017 World's 100 Most Powerful Women identifies a "new generation of icons, game-changers and gate crashers who are boldly scaling new heights and transforming the world", Forbes said.

The list covered four metrics -- money (either net worth, company revenues, assets, or GDP); media presence; spheres of influence and impact, analysed both within the context of each woman's field (media, technology, business, philanthropy/NGOs, politics, and finance) and outside of it.