Raghuram Rajan, Sania Mirza among Time 100 influential people, PM misses out

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, tennis star Sania Mirza, actress Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and founders of Flipkart Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal have been named by Time magazine in its list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”.

Time’s annual list, released on Thursday, includes pioneers like American composer Lin Manuel-Miranda, leaders like IMF head Christine Lagarde and icons like Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio who are “exploring the frontiers of art, science, society, technology and more.”

Terming Mr Rajan as “India’s prescient banker”, Time said he is among a rare breed of “economic seers” who he “steered” India through the global crisis and fallout, “playing a large role in making it one of the emerging-market stars of the moment.

While serving as the youngest chief economist of the IMF from 2003 to 2006, Time said Mr Rajan predicted the subprime crisis that would lead to the Great Recession, standing up to critics like former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, who labelled him a “Luddite”.

“Since then, more and more of the economic establishment has come to share Mr Rajan’s view that debt-fuelled growth is just a saccharine substitute for the real thing,” Time said.

In a profile for Mirza, cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar writes that her “confidence, strength and resilience reach beyond tennis” and she has inspired a generation of Indians to pursue their dreams “ and to realise that they can also be the best.”

Tendulkar described Mirza as an “inspiration” on the court. He lauded her “dedication and willpower” to reinvent herself fully as a doubles player when her singles career was cut short by wrist injuries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the probable contenders for the list, was not in the final list determined by Time’s editors.