IE 100 2016: The List Of Most Powerful Indians

The Indian Express Power List, which ranks the 100 most powerful Indians, for the year 2016 is out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led his party the BJP to a landslide victory in the 2014 national elections, remains the most powerful Indian. Despite a slew of controversies around him, his popularity is unchallenged. “…Despite the storm around him — the intolerance debate, the defeat in Bihar, the Rohith Vemula suicide, the JNU crisis — he remains the unchallenged No 1. Under Modi, the PMO has become the epicentre of all important, and some not-so-important, decisions, with the ministries often being bypassed,” the list says. The impromptu decision the Prime Minister took to stop-over in Lahore on his way home from Afghanistan to meet Nawaz Sharif was considered a clever diplomatic move and surprised geopolitical scientists. The visit also opened a new channel of communication between the two countries. - See more