New York, Sep 1 (IANS) India's ruling Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has been listed as the 13th most powerful woman in the world in the annual Forbes listing, headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which also has PepsiCo designated chief India-born Indra Nooyi in the fourth position.

Three other Indians also find place in the list of 100 - Joint Managing Directors of the Mumbai-based ICICI Bank Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia in the 93rd position and Vidya Chhabria, the 58-year-old India-born Dubai-based chairperson of the $2 billion Jumbo Group, who gets the 95th ranking.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and China's Vice Premier Wu Yi follow Merkel in the second and third position.

Monarchs Queen Elizabeth II and Jordanian Queen Rania have found 46th and 81st rank respectively. US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is listed in the 18th position, US First Lady Laura Bush 43rd and Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia is 33rd, states the Forbes' website.

Nobel peace laureate and jailed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the 47th most powerful woman in the world, while Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission chairperson Sima Samar is listed 28th.

CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour finds herself in the 79th position.

The enigmatic Gandhi had earlier figured in the list in 2004 in the third position, immediately after she refused the post of prime minister of India and appointed Manmohan Singh.

In its profile on Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the magazine said: "Though critics used the move to call into question her power, Gandhi is still widely revered, especially among the country's poor millions."

"Gandhi heads the left-leaning party of Jawaharlal Nehru, where she acts as opposition leader to Singh, the pro-business prime minister. Gandhi frequently expresses concern that India's astounding economic growth is leaving the poor behind, and that her country is not doing enough to help its farmers."

Gandhi, who could not find herself in the magazine's 2005 listing, is now placed immediately after Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Nooyi, a US citizen who was born in the south Indian town of Chennai and graduated from the Madras Christian College and the Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata, is the first businesswoman in the list.

Praising Nooyi's management skills, the magazine said: "Few people could handle either the presidential or the chief financial officer job at a company worth $100 billion."

Nooyi, who has held both offices since 2001, will take over as Pepsi's new chief executive from Oct 1.

The Forbes' listing is based on a "power ranking that is the composite of visibility (measured by press citations) and economic impact," says the website.