Beijing, March 19 (IANS): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked by a study the best world leader in handling domestic and international affairs, pipping rival Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the process, media reported on Thursday.

"Xi's handling of both domestic and international affairs has won high praise. He ranks second, after newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for his capability of handling domestic and international affairs," said Wang Gangyi, vice-president of China International Publishing Group, according to a China Daily report.

The findings of China's National Image Global Survey 2014 were released in Beijing on Wednesday. The survey was jointly conducted by the Centre for International Communication Studies of China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, Millward Brown and Lightspeed GMI.

It was based on 4,500 responses from nine countries last year. The nine countries -- the US, Britain, Australia, Japan, South Africa, India, Russia, Brazil and China -- represent different geographic regions and stages of economic development.

The survey found that China's overall image has been increasingly recognised by the global community, even though overseas respondents were divided about China's global image.

The average score of China's national image in 2014 was 5.9 on a scale of 1 to 10, up from the previous year's 5.1, according to the study.

The survey found that Xi was the fourth best-known among the leaders of the nine countries, with 70 percent of the respondents having heard of him, after US President Barack Obama (97 percent), Russian President Vladimir Putin (91 percent) and British Prime Minister David Cameron (86 percent).