The Indian Express presents Most Powerful Indians in 2012

Click to view The Power List 2012

That development reflected the changing contours of political power at the national level,with the UPA government tainted by scandals,paving the way for an increasingly aggressive and more influential Opposition. There has also been a reshuffle in the list of establishment figures who have fallen or risen according to the roles they have played in the series of crises that hit the UPA-II government. There are some intriguing changes elsewhere on the list,with the 2G scandal,the global economic crisis and slowdown in reforms impacting the corporate sector.

These changes were what our jury looked at when they got down to the tough job of picking the 100 most powerful people in a country of 1.2 billion. As always,the jurys decisions were based on the candidates ability to command influence as also the fact that power can be negativethe power to disrupt,to block.

The Indian Express annual power list is reflective of social,economic and political change in India. The rise of social activism is definitely reflected in the top 30 list as well as in the list of new entrants. Equally,quite a few names are connected with cinema or music,an indication that the entertainment industry has gained in influence.

As always,we have mini lists: our pick of the top 10 from various fields,from economics to sports and films. And,as always,if you disagree with our jury,please let us know,at ie100expressindia.com.

1. Rahul Gandhi,41,Congress General Secretary

Rank 8217;11: 12

2. Sonia Gandhi,65,Congress President

Rank 8217;11: 2,

3. Manmohan Singh,79,Prime Minister

Rank 8217;11: 4

4. Mohan Bhagwat,61,Head of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

Rank 8217;11: 42

5. Sushma Swaraj,60,Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

Rank 8217;11: 3

6. Arun Jaitley,59,Leader of Oppn. in Rajya Sabha

Rank 8217;11: 13

7. Mamata Banerjee,52,CM of West Bengal

Rank 8217;11: 7

8. Pranab Mukherjee,76,Finance Minister

Rank 8217;11: 14

9. AK Antony,71,Defence Minister

Rank 8217;11: 10

10. P Chidambaram,66,Home Minister

Rank 8217;11: 15

11. Pulok Chatterji,60,Principal Secretary to the PM

New on the list

12. Mukesh Ambani,54,Chairman,Reliance Industries

Rank 8217;11: 9

13. Nitish Kumar,60,Chief Minister of Bihar

Rank 8217;11: 6

14. Narendra Modi,61 Chief Minister of Gujarat

Rank 8217;11: 18

15. Ratan Tata,74,Chairman,Tata Group

Rank 8217;11: 39

16. S H Kapadia,64,Chief Justice of India

Rank 8217;11: 1

17. Anna Hazare,74,Social amp; political activist

New on the list

18. Amar Pratap Singh,59,Director,CBI

Rank 8217;11: 32

19. Mulayam Singh Yadav,72,President,Samajwadi Party

New on the list

20. Akhilesh Yadav,38,UP state chief of Samajwadi Party

New on the list

21. Jayalalithaa,63,Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Rank 8217;11: 16

22. Azim Premji,66,Chairman,Wipro Ltd

Rank 8217;11: 19

23. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,40,Congress campaigner

New on the list

24. Vinod Rai,63,Comptroller and Auditor-General

Rank 8217;11: 72

25. Digvijaya Singh,64,Congress General Secretary

26. Ahmed Patel,62,Sonia Gandhi8217;s Political Secretary

Rank 8217;11: 21

27. Arvind Kejriwal,43,Social amp; political activist

New on the list

28. Nitin Gadkari,55,BJP president,

Rank 8217;11: 30

29. Sunil Mittal,54,Chairman,Bharti Enterprises

Rank 8217;11: 35

30. Cyrus Mistry,43,Chairman designate,Tata Group

New on the list

31. Kanishka Singh,33,Political aide of Rahul Gandhi

New on the list

32. Prashant Bhushan,56,Lawyer and activist

Rank 8217;11: 61

33. Raman Singh,59,Chief Minister,Chhattisgarh

Rank 8217;11: 24

34. Nandan Nilekani,56,Chairman,UIDAI

Rank 8217;11: 43

35. Mayawati,56,UP Chief Minister

Rank 8217;11: 36

36. Goolam E Vahanvati,62,Attorney General of India

Rank 8217;11: 44

37. SY Quraishi,64,Chef Election Commissioner of India

Rank 8217;11: 45

38. D Subbarao,63,Governor,Reserve Bank of India

Rank 8217;11: 11

39. LK Advani,84,Senior BJP leader

Rank 8217;11: 37

40. Kaushik Basu,60 Chief Economic Advisor,Finance Ministry

Rank 8217;11: 46

41. UK Sinha,59,Chairman,Sebi

Rank 8217;11: 94

42. Deepak Parekh,67,Chairman,HDFC

Rank 8217;11: 41

43. Fali S Nariman,83,Constitutional Jurist

Rank 8217;11: 48

44. GM Rao,62,Chairman amp; MD,GMR Group

Rank 8217;11: 49

45. Sheila Dikshit,74,CM,Delhi

Rank 8217;11: 76

46. Naveen Patnaik,65,Chief Minister,Orissa

Rank 8217;11: 53

47. Amarinder Singh,69,President,Punjab Congress

New on the list

48. Ganapathy,59,General Secretary,CPI Maoist

Rank 8217;11: 40

49. Aruna Roy,65,Member,National Advisory Council

New on the list

50. Sharad Pawar,71,Agriculture Minister

Rank 8217;11: 50

51. Pawan Munjal,57,MD amp; CEO,Hero MotoCorp

New on the list

52. Sushil Kumar Modi,60,Deputy CM,Bihar

Rank 8217;11: 62

53. Salman Khurshid,59,Law Minister

Rank 8217;11: 34

54. Anil Ambani,52,Chairman,Reliance ADA Group

Rank 8217;11: 51

55. Anand Mahindra,56,Vice chairman amp; MD,Mahindra amp; Mahindra

Rank 8217;11: 65

56. KV Kamath,64,Chairman,Infosys

Rank 8217;11: 66

57. Rahul Bhatia,50,Chairman,IndiGo

Rank 8217;11: 26

58. Raj Thackeray,43,President,MNS

Rank 8217;11: 67

59. Aamir Khan,46,Actor

Rank 8217;11: 68

60. Ghulam Nabi Azad,63,Health amp; Family Welfare Minister

Rank 8217;11: 69

61. MS Dhoni,30,Cricketer

Rank 8217;11: 17

62. Kumar Mangalam Birla,44,Chairman,Aditya Birla Group

Rank 8217;11: 74

63. Lakshmi Niwas Mittal,61,Chairman,ArcelorMittal

Rank 8217;11: 75

64. Kapil Sibal,63,Minister of HRD amp; IT

Rank 8217;11: 23

65. Salman Khan,46,Actor

Rank 8217;11: 78

66. N Srinivasan,67,President,BCCI

New on the list

67. Samir Jain,57,Vice-Chairman,Bennett,Coleman amp; Co. Ltd. Times Group

Vineet Jain,45,Managing Director,Times Group

Rank 8217;11: 56

68. Shivraj Singh Chouhan,52,Chief Minister,Madhya Pradesh

Rank 8217;11: 80

69. Sanjay Gupta,43,CEO,Jagran Prakashan

MM Gupta,70,Chairman and Managing Director,Jagran Prakashan

Rank 8217;11: 82

70. C Rangarajan,79,Chairman,PMEAC

New on the list

71. Shobhana Bhartia,53,Chairperson,Hindustan Times Group

Rank 11: 77

72. Uday Shankar,49,Chief Executive Officer,STAR India

Rank 11: 85

73. Arun Shourie,70,Journalist-writer

Rank 11: 86

74. Omar Abdullah,41,Chief Minister,Jamp;K

Rank 11: 87

75. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,55,Spiritual leader

Rank 11: 93

76. Uday Kotak,52,Managing Director,Kotak Mahindra Bank

Rank 11: 83

77. Aditya Puri,58,MD amp; CEO,HDFC Bank

New on the list

78. E Sreedharan,79,Former MD of Delhi Metro

Rank 11: 57

79. Shivshankar Menon,62,National Security Advisor

Rank 11: 33

80. Aveek Sarkar,67,Chief Editor,ABP Group

Rank 11: 79

81. Anand Sharma,59,Commerce Minister

Rank 11: 31

82. Nita Ambani,48,Entrepreneur amp; owner of Mumbai Indians

New on the list

83. Justice Markandey Katju,65,Chairman,Press Council of India

New on the list

84. Vidya Balan,34,Actor

New on the list

85. Baba Ramdev,40,Spiritual leader

New on the list

86. Ekta Kapoor,38,TV and Film producer

New on the list

87. Subramanian Swamy,72,President,Janata Party

New on the list

88. Sachin Tendulkar,38,Cricketer

Rank 11: 8

89. Ranbir Kapoor,29,Actor

New on the list

90. Katrina Kaif,27,Actor

Rank 11: 99

91. Chanda Kochhar,50,MD amp; CEO,ICICI Bank

Rank 11: 47

92. Jaggi Vasudev,54,Spiritual leader

Rank 11: 97

93. Karan Johar,39,Film maker

Rank 11: 81

94. Shikha Sharma,49,CEO,Axis Bank

New on the list

95. AR Rahman,46,Musician

New on the list

96. Devi Prasad Shetty,58,Cardiac surgeon

Rank 11: 91

97. Bhaiyyuji Maharaj,40,Spiritual leader

New on the list

98. Pradeep Kumar,62,Central Vigilance Commissioner

New on the list

99. Abul Qasim nomani,72,Head of Dar ul Uloom,Deoband

New on the list

100. AK Seth,59,Cabinet Secretary

New on the list