Narendra Modi pips Ramdev to become top fitness influencer

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the top-most health influencer in the country -- the Narendra Modi pips Ramdev to become top fitness influence second time in a row -- followed by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Indias leading preventive healthcare ecosystem GOQii announced on Tuesday.

The new entrants in this year's coveted list of India's "Top 30 Health influencers for 2019" include MS Dhoni, Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and Priyanka Chopra who made it to the top 10.

Others in the top 10 list are Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and actor Deepika Padukone.

"This report is an effort to identify the most influential healthcare personalities in our country who have the power to make India healthy; a goal for us at GOQii as well as the government of India," Vishal Gondal, CEO and founder GOQii, said in a statement.

"Modi was instrumental in instituting the International Day of Yoga 2015, which is now observed globally. He is not only keen on improving India but keen on improving the health and fitness of Indians as well. Despite all the tasks at hand, the 68-year-old still manages to stay fit," said the report.

Akshay is undoubtedly India's fittest celebrity who is trained in martial arts and has a black belt in taekwondo.

"Even with his hectic life, he manages to maintain his workout regime, occasionally adding new exercises to avoid boredom. He believes that one should devote their body to exercise for one hour in order to be fit," the report mentioned.

A popular household name, yoga for Ramdev is an integral part of life.

"His claim to fame is his company, Patanjali Ayurved, that believes in yoga and ayurveda as a way of improving life. His brand is now a popular name in India and is giving MNC FMCG companies a run for their money. As of May 19, his company is the third largest FMCG company in India," the report noted.

The top 30 health influencers were selected from a list of 100.

The scoring system was created based on the following categories -- followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube; number of Google news mentions and an estimate of how much each person's career focuses on fitness and health. The data was collected the January-March period.