Sonia, Nooyi among top 10 in Forbes' "Most Powerful Women" list

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While Gandhi, who is also the chairperson of the UPA Government at the Center, was placed at No.6 in the list, Nooyi secured the fifth position.

Topping the list for a second year in a row is Angela Merkel, the first woman to become chancellor of Germany. "She continued to impress the world with her cool leadership at two back-to-back summits," Forbes said.

"She stuck to her principles, getting G-8 leaders to agree to significant cuts in carbon emissions, among other things. She later corralled European Union countries into an agreement on a treaty to replace the E.U. constitution," the magazine said.

"And, Merkel is hardly the only woman making waves on the international stage. There are just 53 Americans on our list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, attesting to the growing power of women worldwide. More women than ever before are running entire countries, not just companies and foundations," it said.

Other women to make it to the top 5 were Chinese vice premier Wu Yi at No.2, 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.

Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo-American, one of the world's largest mining companies, at No.7; Patricia A. Woertz, chairperson, Archer Daniels Midland, the $37 billion agribusiness giant at No.8; Irene Rosenfield, chief executive of food giant Kraft Food at No.9 and Patricia Russo, chief executive of telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent at No.10 completes the top 10 list.

Describing Wu Yi, the magazine said, "[she] continues to help lead a government that oversees an economy whose gross domestic product may soon eclipse Germany's, making it the third-biggest economy in the world."

"Wu recently stared down U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson when he made myriad demands, including a revaluation of the yuan, in recent strategic economic talks with the U.S.," the magazine noted.

About Ho Ching, Forbes said that in spite of being the wife of "the prime minister of Singapore and chief executive of the country's state-owned investment company, Ho Ching is rarely seen or heard."

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