German Chancellor Angela Merkel got the tag of world’s most powerful woman of the year 2008,according to the recent Forbes report. It is the third straight year when Merkel topped the Forbes magazine list of top 100 women based on their career, economic impact and media coverage.

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

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is ranked No. 21. Mayawati, the Bahaujan Samaj Party chief and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is at the 59th spot.

Indian American Indra Nooyi head of PepsiCo is the world’’s third most powerful woman.According to the magazine, Nooyi is the highest-ranked woman in business as she successfully expands the food and beverage giant internationally to counter a decline in Americans” preference for soda and chips.

Democratic US senator and former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton dropped three spots to No. 28 but gained the most media attention of any woman on the list this year.

The Top 10

1. Angela Merkel 2. Sheila C. Bair 3. Indra K. Nooyi 4. Angela Braly 5. Cynthia Carroll 6. Irene B. Rosenfeld 7. Condoleezza Rice 8. Ho Ching 9. Anne Lauvergeon 10. Anne Mulcahy