PM Modi has over 110 million followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has retained his position as the third-most followed person on Twitter, crossing the 50 million followers mark on the microblogging platform; he is also the first Indian to cross that mark. The Prime Minister, who maintains an active presence on social media, has added more than six million followers over the past year, rising from 43.4 million in July 2018. Only US President Donald Trump - 64 million - and former US President Barack Obama - 108 million - have more followers than PM Modi.

A further 30.4 million follow the Prime Minister, who began using Twitter in 2009, when he was still Gujarat Chief Minister, on his PMO handle. PM Modi is also active on Facebook, where has 44.8 million followers, and Instagram, where he has 25 million followers and is the world's most-followed leader.

Among his most-liked posts on Instagram is the one in which he meets a "very special friend" in parliament - the post came with two photos of PM Modi holding a baby.

"A very special friend came to meet me in Parliament today," PM Modi wrote. The post has collected, so far, over 3.7 million 'likes'.

Other popular Instagram posts include PM Modi with Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma after their wedding and another from Davos, where he attended the World Economic Forum last year.

In May, a report by digital marketing platform SEMrush said the combined total of followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - 110.9 million - made Prime Minster Modi the second-most followed world leader; the first is Mr Obama with a massive 182.7 million.

"With his approximately 110 million followers worldwide, Narendra Modi has overtaken the present US President Donald Trump who has 96 million followers globally. However, Trump still enjoys the second most followed politician position globally on Twitter (with 59.8 million followers)," the report said.

Last year, a survey conducted by Gallup, an international polling organisation, across 50 countries rated the Prime Minister third, ahead of his counterparts in China, Russia, Israel and the United Kingdom (then Prime Minister Theresa May).

The top rank in that survey went to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

With input from ANI