Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just added another feather in his cap. Modi has been ranked among the top 10 most powerful people in the world by Forbes. He ranks 9th on the Forbes 2018 list of 75 of the World's Most Powerful People who make the world turn.  

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PM Modi is ahead of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (13), United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May (14), Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (15) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (24). 

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth of 41.2 billion dollars, is the only other Indian on the power list, ranking 32nd. Microsoft's India-born CEO Satya Nadella is on the 40th spot. 

Any guesses for the leader who topped the list? No, it's not Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Chinese President Xi Jinping. Jinping dethroned Putin as the most influential person on the planet for the first time ever after China's Congress amended its constitution in March, broadening his influence and eliminating term limits. Putin remained the most powerful for four consecutive years.  

"There are nearly 7.5 billion humans on planet Earth, but these 75 men and women make the world turn. Forbes' annual ranking of The World's Most Powerful People identifies one person out of every 100 million whose actions mean the most," Forbes said.

Modi "remains hugely popular" in the second most populous country on earth, said Forbes, citing his November 2016 decision to eliminate India's two largest banknotes in a bid to reduce money laundering and corruption.

"Modi has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years during official visits with US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. He has also emerged as a key figure in the international effort to tackle climate change, as warming affects millions of his country's rural citizens," Forbes said.

On Ambani, Forbes said the billionaire industrialist's Reliance Jio sparked a price war in India's hyper-competitive telecom market with the launch of 4G phone service Jio in 2016. 

"Jio has signed on 160 million customers by offering free domestic voice calls, dirt-cheap data services and virtually free smartphones," Forbes said.

"This year's list highlights the consolidation of power in the hands of an elite few," Forbes said.

Among the top five, Donald Trump remains on the third spot, followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Amazon chief Jeff Bezos. 

There are 17 new names on the list this year, including Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud (8), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. His father remains king, but he has consolidated power beyond any doubt and taken control of the country, Forbes said. 

Other new members include U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (11), Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods (34), President of South Korea Moon Jae-in (54) and Special Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice Robert Mueller (72). 

Forbes consider hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measure their power along four dimensions of whether the person has power over lots of people, financial resources controlled by each person, whether the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres and that the candidates actively used their power.