PM Modi, Mukesh Ambani, Pichai named contenders for Time's Person of the Year

The Time Person of the Year 2015 will be announced next month on the basis of votes.

Time said Modi has “encouraged foreign direct investment in India and is trying to modernise the world’s largest democracy”, but added that the Indian leader has also “faced controversy over what some see as right-wing extremism”.

On Ambani, Time said the richest person in India is the chairman of Reliance Industries “which owns everything from telecom properties to the world’s largest crude oil refinery”.

Also among the contenders is Pichai. “After 11 years at Google, most recently as co-founder Larry Page’s right hand, Pichai assumed the tech giant’s top job,” Time said.

In a separate “Face-off” poll, Modi has been pitted against Jinping, while Ambani has been pitted against Nigerian President Muhammudu Buhari.

Time asked its readers to vote for the individual who they think should get the title of Person of the Year and the winner of the reader’s choice poll will be announced next month before Time’s editors choose the individual from the 58 candidates as the honouree.

Modi has so far got 1.3 per cent of the votes, the same as Pichai and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ambani has garnered a mere 0.2 per cent of the votes cast.

The other candidates in the fray for the Person of the Year title include US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Chinese President Xi Jinping, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Democratic Presidential front runner Hillary Clinton, the refugees fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and East and West Africa, Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, Tesla head Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and last year’s winner Pope Francis.