Washington: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been placed sixth, just behind Indra Nooyi, the Indian American chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo, in the Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful women.

Angela Merkel, the first woman to become chancellor of Germany, ranks No. 1 for the second year in a row, the US business magazine said.

Just above Nooyi and Sonia Gandhi were Chinese Vice premier Wu Yi at No. 2 and Ho Ching, chief executive of Temasek Holdings, Singapore's largest business conglomerate, at No. 3 and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at No. 4.

Sonai Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of India's most powerful political party, the Indian National Congress Party, has come far since entering politics in the 1990s", Forbes said.

It described it as a historic vote seen as a step forward for India's women and girls who endure daily discrimination", the magazine said.

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