Modi and Paytm founder on TIME’s list

TIME Magazine has published its list of ‘100 Most Influential People‘ recently. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma were the only Indians on the list.

In 2016 the list featured five Indians, including actress Priyanka Chopra, activist Sunita Narain, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, as well asFlipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

Modi’s profile was written by author Pankaj Mishra and said, “Once barred from the United States for his suspected complicity in anti-Muslim violence, and politically ostracised at home as well, this Hindu nationalist used Twitter to bypass traditional media and speak directly to the masses feeling left or pushed behind by globalisation, and he promised to make India great again by rooting out self-serving elites.”

Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s profile was written by Infosys honcho Nandan Nilekani. It said, “In November, when India’s government unexpectedly scrapped 86% of the country’s currency notes, Vijay Shekhar Sharma seized the moment. As Indians scrambled to exchange the banned notes for new currency, Paytm, Sharma’s digital payments startup, went on a promotional spree.” It added that Paytm used “a flurry of ads” to get more people to download the app during that time.