The list also includes Indra Nooyi, the Indian-origin chief of global soft drink major PepsiCo, at third position, up from fifth last year, and Indian biotechnology firm Biocon's chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw at 99th. The list has been topped by German chancellor Angela Merkel.

While stating that Sonia has assumed the role of an elder stateswoman, the report says: “Although she (Sonia) remains firmly at the head of the country’s ruling party, a rising star, known by the single name Mayawati, is challenging her position as the country’s most powerful woman.”

Pointing out that the BSP recently withdrew support to the UPA coalition at the Centre, the magazine describes Mayawati as the one “in the running to be prime minister”.

"In 1995, at 39, she was the youngest politician elected to the post and was also the first Dalit... to head a state government,” it says. “In 2007, she shrewdly built an alliance with Brahmins, and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which she heads, has started to increase its national presence. Some say she could trail-blaze again as India's first Dalit prime minister.”

According to Forbes, its annual ranking of the most powerful women in the world measures “power” as a composite of public profile and financial heft. The economic component considers job title and past career accomplishments, as well as the amount of money the woman controls.

Despite her fall from sixth position last year, Sonia has outranked people like Hillary Clinton (28th), Oprah Winfrey (36th), Melinda Gates (40th), Laura Bush (44th) and Queen Elizabeth II (58th).

Besides, Mayawati is also ranked higher than MTV Networks CEO Judy McGrath (60th), Finland President Tarja Halonen, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hyundai Group chairman Hyun Jeong-Eun and Ireland President Mary McAleese.

Merkel is followed by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp chairman Sheila C Bair of the US at the second position. Others in the top ten include WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll, Kraft Foods chief Irene B Rosenfeld, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching, Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon and Xerox Corp CEO Anne Mulcahy.