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India continues to be in the news for good reasons these days. PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi of India has topped the Financial Times list of top 50 women in world business. This global ranking of business world is published for the first time and shows the emergence of powerful women as the global crisis has turned a spotlight on male domination of the corporate world. This list prompts the question whether the struggling male-dominated world of business would have been better off with more women in charge? Financial Times compiled this list in collaboration with recruitment group Egon Zehnder International.

It celebrates the success of women business leaders around the world in spite of their numbers being tiny. Only 3 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Across Europe, only 10 per cent of board directors of the large companies are female and the numbers are even lower in Asia.

Nooyi, 53, is among four Indians making it to a list. The other three Indians on the list are: Britannia Industries head Vinita Bali, Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and HT Media Chairperson Shobhana Bhartia. Nooyi attributed much of her success to the US and said that United States represents the greatest meritocracy in the world and US is a country that likes to see others succeed.

Vinita Bali is ranked 22, for her experience in the food production business. She got the opportunity to take the leadership role at Britannia after the controversial resignation of Sunil Alagh in 2003. The FT placed Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw at 47th place, who have taken Biocon from being a start-up in Bangalore to a successful listed company. Shobhana Bhartia, is at number 48, because of her contributions in shaping HT Media into one of India’s largest media companies.

Another four Indian women figured in ‘women to watch’ section: Cisco Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior, Hewlett-Packard India Managing Director Neelam Dhawan, UBS India Chief Executive Manisha Girotra and HSBC India CEO Naina Lal Kidwai. ICICI Bank CEO Chandra Kochhar missed the list, despite her being in a powerful position because she had not served at least 12 months in the role.