Congress President Sonia Gandhi, noted industrialist Ratan Tata and Nasscom president Kiran Karnik were named among 25 'Stars of Asia' by the US-based magazine BusinessWeek for being in the 'forefront of change.'

Describing Sonia as the 'power behind the throne,' the Asian edition of the magazine in its latest issue listed her as the top star of Asia in policymakers category for 'turning down the top office and setting a new tone for India.'

"For much of its 55-years of independence, India has been mired in political corruption. Now, ordinary Indians hope that Gandhi who has never held high office and has a clean reputation, will tackle corruption and speed up India's development," the weekly said in a special report titled Stars of Asia.

Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group, was given the pride of place in the category of 'Managers' for building up the Tata empire as a global player.

"For decades, the Tata Group was the archetypal conservative Indian conglomerate: honest and solid but risk-averse. It is that late-career spurt of dynamism that makes Tata a star -- and could catapult his 136-year-old company into the global big league," the weekly wrote about this scion of Tata family.

Recognising the lobbying skills backed by strong technological credentials of Karnik that earned a place amongst the Stars of Asia in the category of 'Opinion Shapers', the magazine credited him with handling successfully the controversial outsourcing issue with the United States.

Describing Sonia Gandhi as the architect of Congress victory, the BusinessWeek said: "Pundits were blown away by the electoral triumph of Indian National Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

"It reminded us all of democracy's power in a society that has become a global outsourcing Mecca but still struggles with entrenched poverty."

The magazine said her campaigning persuaded voters to reject the Bharatiya Janata Party's promises of a 'shining' India and back Congress' social and rural agenda.