4 Indians among Fortune's top 50 women business leaders

Four Indians led by ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar have made to Fortune magazine's global list of top-50 women business leaders, while PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi has been ranked second in a similar list for the US.

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Kochhar has been ranked fourth, followed by National Stock Exchange chief Chitra Ramkrishna at 17th, Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma at 32nd and HSBC's Naina Lal Kidwai at 42nd place among the Indians on the international list of most powerful women in business.

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This list is topped by Brazilian energy giant Petrobras' CEO, Maria Das Gracas Foster, followed by Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding's Guler Sabanci at the second and Australian banking giant Westpac's CEO Gail Kelly at the third.

Kochhar, managing director and CEO of India's largest private sector bank, has moved up one position from her fifth position on the 2012 list, while NSE's Ramkrishna has made it to the list for the first time.

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Shikha Sharma and Naina Lal Kidwai were ranked 37th and 40th, respectively on Fortune's international list for most powerful business women.

On Chitra Ramkrishna, a newcomer to the International Power 50 list, Fortune said she has made history as the first woman to head an exchange in India.

"The National Stock Exchange lifer, who was part of the core five-member team selected by the government to create a screen-based exchange in 1993, has shattered the glass ceiling, making history as the first woman to head an exchange in India," Fortune said.

The board is banking on her twenty years of experience to oversee India's largest exchange -- 7th largest in the world -- with a total listed market capitalisation of some $1 trillion, it added.

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A separate list for most powerful business women in the US, also complied by Fortune magazine, continues to be topped by technology giant IBM's Ginni Rometty, while PepsiCo's Indian-origin CEO Nooyi has retained her second position.

The magazine said that PepsiCo, the largest food and beverage company in the US, saw its share price hit an all-time high earlier this year and it today boasts 22 billion-dollar brands.

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DuPont's Ellen Kullman is ranked third, followed by Lockheed Martin's Marillyn Hewson and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg at the fourth and fifth positions.

Fortune said the list has been compiled broadly on the basis of four criteria - the size and importance of the business headed by the person in the global economy; the health and direction of the business; the arc of the business leader's career; and social and cultural influence.