Gandhi, Tata, Ambani among finalists for Time's 2009 list

India's Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and industrialists Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani are among the finalists for Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2009 that also includes US President Barack Obama.

The first African-American President of the US is currently ranked 13th, while the top position is held by a person who goes by the name 'Moot', the founder of 4chan.org, a website for posting images and discussions anonymously.

Gandhi, who is leading the ruling Congress party's bid for a re-election in the coming Parliamentary polls, is ranked 43 - ahead of Tata (102), the maker of the world's cheapest car Nano and Ambani (169), who the publication referred to as 'petrol prince.'

The 203 finalists includes seven people of Indian origin. The four others are cola-queen Indra Nooyi of Pepsico, movie mogul Ronnie Screwvala of UTV, public face for Washington's Troubled Asset Relief Programme Neel Kashkari, and Harvard-educated management consultant Ram Charan.

Besides, Slumdog Millionaire-fame British filmmaker Danny Boyle, who hit the headlines with the Oscar-winning movie shot in Mumbai slums, is also among the finalists. Time would publish the final list later in the year.

In a continuing online poll on Time's website, Screwvala is currently top-ranked among Indians at 33rd overall place, Nooyi is at 89, Kashkari 187 and Charan 193.