The Fortune list of ‘50 most powerful women in business: Global edition' has been topped by General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the first woman to run a global automaker.

"By pushing into new territories and inspiring women in their home countries, these globetrotters are, quite literally, taking on the world," the magazine said.

An electrical engineer, who has spent her entire career at GM, Barra oversees more than 212,000 employees in 396 GM facilities in six continents.

Nooyi, who ranks third on the list and Kochhar on the 18th spot are the only two Indian women on the list. Fortune said Nooyi, 58, more than doubled Pepsi sales from outside the US in her seven years running PepsiCo.

International markets now make up about half of the company's $65.5 billion in revenue.

"India-born Nooyi has made sure her product pipeline reflects her consumer base: Since 2012, "innovation centres" have popped up in Shanghai, Hamburg, and Monterrey, Mexico," it said.

Kochchar, 52, leads India's second-largest bank, a sprawling organisation with $124 billion in assets, $1.5 billion in profit, and 3,588 branches.

Though the bulk of ICICI's business is done in India and with companies operating there, the bank is in 19 countries and does brisk business transferring money from expats to families back in India, it said.

The list includes IBM Chairman, CEO, President Ginni Rometty on the 2nd spot, energy corporation Petrobras CEO Maria das Gra Silva Foster on the 4th spot, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (11), Yahoo President and CEO Marissa Mayer (14) and Google's Senior Vice President for Ads and Commerce Susan Wojcicki (20).

PTI