Prahalad, who is the first Indian-origin thinker to claim the title, was ranked number three in last year's Thinkers 50 list brought out by Suntop Media.

A professor at the University of Michigans' Stephen M Ross School of Business, Prahalad specialises in corporate strategy research and is a globally known figure consulted by the top management of many of the world's foremost companies.

"Best known for his work with Gary Hamel (ranked 5th) on resource-based strategy, which gave rise to the term core competences, more recently, Prahalad has turned his attention to the plight of the worlds poor," said Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove of Suntop Media.

"'In The Bottom of the Pyramid', his 2004 book, he argues that capitalism can be the engine to eradicate poverty," Crainer and Dearlove said in a statement posted on the website Thinkers50.com.

If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden, and start recognising them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs, a whole new world of opportunity will open up, Prahalad explains in his book.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been ranked second and former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan third.

Virgin group founder Richard Branson is placed at number nine.