Indian Express Power List 2015: No. 91-100

WHY

Though he retired from Test cricket mid-series in Australia, he is still the Indian cricket team’s talisman. He has led India to all three ICC trophies and, as captain of Chennai Super Kings, is a serial IPL winner.

POWER PUNCH

He launched India to a fantastic start in the World Cup, with the team beating Pakistan and South Africa.

WHAT NEXT

Keeping the World Cup at home.

BY THE WAY: He has 35 motorbikes.

Rank 92 | Rajkumar Hirani (52) | Filmmaker

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

With PK’s success, he continues to be India’s most successful and respected Bollywood filmmaker.

POWER PUNCH

As PK generated protests, he refused to budge and broke his silence saying all religions teach love

WHAT NEXT

He is planning a biopic on friend and collaborator Sanjay Dutt.

BY THE WAY:

His bouncing board for his scripts is his mother, and he makes changes on the basis of her reactions.

Rank 93| Anandiben patel (73) | Gujarat Chief Minister

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

She was chosen to lead Gujarat after Narendra Modi moved to Delhi

POWER PUNCH

She has initiated 33 per cent reservation for women in the police force. For the first time, the Gujarat government put out a ‘gender budget’.

WHAT NEXT

Winning the local body elections to be held in October.

BY THE WAY: After she urged her supporters not to gift her flowers, she was garlanded with peanuts at a rally.

Rank 94 | Uma Bharti (52) | Minister for Water Resources

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

She has been chosen to execute one of the showpiece programmes of the  Modi government, the Ganga cleaning and rejuvenation project.

POWER PUNCH

Convinced the PM to authorise her to head National Ganga River Basin Authority meetings in his absence

WHAT NEXT

She needs to get CMs on board to clean the Ganga and link rivers.

BY THE WAY: Loved driving jeeps before she met with an accident.

Rank 95 | M K Stalin, (61) | DMK Treasurer

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

He has sidelined brother M K Alagiri and may be party head or CM candidate in 2016.

POWER PUNCH

Stalin 2.0, his followers’ PR campaign, is gaining momentum.

WHAT NEXT

Ensuring Alagiri stays out of favour with father Karunanidhi.

BY THE WAY:  He acted in a TV serial.

Rank 96 | Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (61) | Chief, Dera Sacha Sauda

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

Besides having five crore devotees, he has sold over 10 million CDs of his album Love Charger and has turned filmmaker-actor. His debut film, MSG, released amidst much hype. Politicians from Punjab and Haryana seek his blessings before polls.

POWER PUNCH

He got BJP to sign an affidavit supporting his social work before he lent them support in the Haryana polls.

WHAT NEXT

He is shooting the MSG sequel and has said he would adopt acid attack victims to help them.

BY THE WAY:  He learnt to operate a tractor at the age of seven.

Rank 97 | Arundhati Bhattacharya (58) | Chairperson, State Bank of India 

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

Her decisions and policy changes set the tone for the sector. She has taken a tough stand against loan defaulters and on recoveries.

POWER PUNCH

While all major public sector banks showed a rapid rise in bad loans and a big fall in profits in the December quarter, SBI checked  the spike in bad loans and notched up a 30 % plus growth in profits.

WHAT NEXT

SBI plans to raise around Rs 15,000 crore from the market.

BY THE WAY:  She has allowed women staff to take 2 years off for childbirth or to care for elderly kin.

Rank 98 | Pawan Munjal (60) | CEO and MD, Hero MotoCorp

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

Hero has proved it can stand on its own after parting ways with Honda in 2010. The firm sold 6.64 million two-wheelers in 2014 — the highest ever annual sales in its history.

POWER PUNCH

He has roped in an automotive technology expert from BMW, Markus Braunsperger, as the Chief Technology Officer of Hero MotoCorp.

WHAT NEXT

The company plans to record 10 per cent of annual sales of 12 million units from its international business by 2020.

BY THE WAY: In 2014, he invited Tiger Woods to India and completed an 18-hole round with the golf icon.

Rank 99 | Deepika Padukone (29) | Actor

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

Despite an average run at the box office, she has been the most talked about actor. In an industry where actors show only their sunny side, she spoke about her depression. Was part of the infamous AIB Roast.

POWER PUNCH

Took on the might of The Times of India when its website highlighted her cleavage in a photo. “I am a woman, I have breasts and a cleavage, you got a problem?” she tweeted.

WHAT NEXT

Shoojit Sircar’s Piku, Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani.

BY THE WAY: She fusses over a tulsi plant at her flat.

Rank 100 | Arnab Goswami, (41) | Editor-in-Chief, Times Now

NEW ON THE LIST

WHY

Because when the nation wants to know, well, the nation wants to know. He gets away with shouting down party spokespersons, Pakistanis, “anti-nationals”, etc.

POWER PUNCH

He landed the Rahul Gandhi interview, the first ever on national media by the Congress vice-president.

WHAT NEXT

He now has to beat himself at the game he has been playing for past many years.

BY THE WAY:

The last leave he took was in early 2014, for 5 days. The maximum leave he takes at a stretch is a week.