Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranks ninth on the Forbes list of 74 of the World’s Most Powerful People. Vladimir Putin was the world`s most powerful person for a fourth straight year in 2016. US President-elect Donald Trump is in the second place.

Forbes said India’s populist prime minister remains hugely popular in his country of 1.3 billion people. “Modi has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years during official visits with Barack Obama and Xi Jinping. He has also emerged as a key figure in the international effort to tackle climate change, as planetary warming will deeply affect millions of his country’s rural and most vulnerable citizens,” Forbes said. It also took note of the unexpected demonetisation announcement by PM Modi  — claimed to be a bid towards reducing money laundering and corruption, creating a nationwide frenzy to quickly swap out the bills.

“Russia`s President has exerted his country`s influence in nearly every corner of the globe,” the US business magazine wrote.

“From the motherland to Syria to the US Presidential Elections, Putin continues to get what he wants.”

The 64-year old Russian leader is “unconstrained by conventional global norms (and) his reach has magnified in recent years,” Forbes said.

The magazine wrote that at number two, Trump, who takes over the US presidency in a little more than a month, “has a seeming immunity to scandal, both houses of Congress on his side, and a personal net worth in the billions.”

Trump, who was elected US president last month, was listed 72nd in Forbes` 2015 power rankings.

The list includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the 3rd spot, China`s President Xi Jinping on the 4th spot, Pope Francis (5), Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (7), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (10), French President Francois Hollande (23), Apple CEO Tim Cook (32), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (43), current US  president Barack Obama plummeted to 48th place and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (57).

The list includes Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on the 38the spot. Forbes said the 59-year-old oil and gas tycoon sparked a price war in India’s hyper competitive telecom market with the launch of 4G phone service Jio at the annual shareholder meeting of his Reliance Industries in September.