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Raghuram Rajan, Sania Mirza, Sundar Pichai Among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People

Raghuram Rajan, Sania Mirza, Sundar Pichai Among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, smiles next to her husband Pakistani cricket player Shoaib Malik (not pictured) during their wedding reception in Sialkot, Pakistan's Punjab Province April 25, 2010. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood (PAKISTAN - Tags: SPORT SOCIETY)
Faisal Mahmood / Reuters
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, smiles next to her husband Pakistani cricket player Shoaib Malik (not pictured) during their wedding reception in Sialkot, Pakistan's Punjab Province April 25, 2010. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood (PAKISTAN - Tags: SPORT SOCIETY)

NEW YORK -- RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, tennis star Sania Mirza, actress Priyanka Chopra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, founders of Flipkart Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, Dr Raj Panjabi environmentalist Sunita Narain and actor-comedian Aziz Ansari are the Indians and Indian-origin people who have been named by Time magazine in its list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World'.

Raghuram Rajan

Time's annual list, released today, 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."

Sania Mirza

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

Sundar Pichai

While serving as the youngest chief economist of the IMF from 2003 to 2006, Time said 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".

Priyanka Chopra

"Since then, more and more of the economic establishment has come to share Rajan's view that debt-fueled 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 realize that they can also be the best."

Sachin Bansal with Binny Bansal

Tendulkar described Mirza, who recently was awarded India's third highest civilian honour the Padma Bhushan, 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.

Aziz Ansari

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the probable contenders for the list, was not in the final list determined by Time s editors. Modi was among Time's 100 most influential people in the world last year.

Sunita Narain

On Chopra, who was awarded the Padma Shri this year, actor Dwayne Johnson said she is a "star rising higher" and lauded her "drive, ambition, self-respect, and she knows there's no substitute for hard work."

Raj Panjabi

Time said Flipkart founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal may have come across as arrogant when they told investors the company they started in 2007 as an online bookstore could be worth USD 100 million in a decade.

"It turned out to be modesty: Flipkart now has 75 million users and a USD 13 billion valuation," Time said.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.