Modi, Mukesh Ambani most searched personalities in 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Mukesh Ambani feature amongst the most searched personalities online this year, according to search engine Yahoo.

Image: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) embraces Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Indian energy company Reliance Industries. Photographs: Amit Dave/Reuters

According to the seventh edition of Yahoo India's 'Year in Review', Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the list of 'High and Mighty? the Political Top 10' in 2014, followed by his aides Arun Jaitley (Finance and I&B Minister) and BJP President Amit Shah.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav have also been named in the list.

The review is based on users' daily search habits and an editorial selection of what they read, recommended and shared most on Yahoo in India.

"The slew of reforms and Modi's efforts to improve diplomatic ties were of ongoing interest to Yahoo users. 'Make in India' made it to the top of the list of Biggest Financial Events of the Year," Yahoo said.

Image: Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry also features in the most influential personalities list. Photographs: Reuters

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani made a second appearance at the No 1 spot as the nation's most influential people, followed by Tata Group boss Cyrus Mistry and Gautam Adani, Chief of Adani Group of Industries.

Two high-profile deaths in the corporate world -- the mysterious plane crash of French oil major Total's CEO Christophe de Margerie's in Moscow and the death of Tata Motors' MD Karl Slym in Bangkok -- were among other top searches in this category. Sachin Tendulkar, with his much talked about autobiography, topped the cricketers of the year list, followed by Phil Hughes, MS Dhoni and N Srinivasan.

Sunny Leone was the most-searched celebrity for the third year in a row, along with names like Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Hrithik Roshan and John Abraham.

Image: Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photograph: Reuters.

This year's top finance newsmakers include Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka, Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and Snapdeal’s Rohit Bansal.

In the tech category, Yahoo users searched for Apple iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4, Microsoft XBox One, Amazon Kindle Fire, Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

Most popular cars in terms of online search were Hyundai Xcent, Tata Zest, Hyundai Elite i20, Maruti Ciaz and Diesel powered Honda City.