Washington, April 29 (IANS) Indian origin women lead seven of the 50 fastest-growing women-owned or women-led companies in North America, according to the non-profit group the Women Presidents' Organization (WPO) and American Express OPEN.

In the US alone there are an estimated 8.1 million women-owned businesses that contribute $1.3 trillion to the national economy and employ 7.7 million people, US business magazine Forbes noted citing the list.

The companies that made the top 50 generated an astounding $4.1 billion in combined revenues last year.

Leading the Indian contingent is Himanshu Bhatia of Rose International, Montana, Contingent Workforce Services, in the third place.

Ranjini Poddar of Artech Information Systems, New Jersey, IT Consulting in the seventh place comes next followed by Rachna Agarwal of Expedien, Texas, Business Intelligence in the 12th place.

Gloria Rajkumar (16) of SIMAC Canada, Ontario, Coordinate Independent Medical Assessments, Kiran Gill (21) of PARS Environmental, New Jersey, Environmental consulting firm and Anjali "Ann" Ramakumaran (26) of Ampcus, Virginia, Consulting services take the next three places.

Sonu Ratra of Akraya, California, IT & Marketing staffing in the 37th place brings up the rear.

Shelly Sun led the fastest-growing company on the list, BrightStar Care, a home healthcare and medical staffing company based in Illinois, which quadrupled its revenue in just two years to $100 million

To qualify for the list, companies were required to be privately held, woman-owned or women-led, and located in the US or Canada. They were ranked according to a sales growth formula that combines percentage and absolute growth.