Public service is all about taking decisions to benefit all. Manmohan Singh’s economic and political legacy lives up to the maxim unchallenged. Singh was often the right man at the right place and time—be it as RBI governor, the government’s chief economic advisor, finance minister, or as India’s 14th prime minister. In every role, Singh did the honours of troubleshooting for the country by shaping multiple policies at extremely critical junctures. From deregulating the economy and revolutionising the tax policy to steering the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal, his most consequential endeavours were not in the realm of the ordinary. It was also under his stewardship that India’s GDP cracked into the $1-trillion club—soaring from $721 billion in 2003-04 to $2 trillion in 2013-14.
In mid-1991, the Indian economy was at grief’s doorstep. As the balance of payments crisis deepened, leaving us with just a fortnight worth of foreign exchange reserves, the country was forced to pledge its gold reserves for the first time ever. Yet Singh, drafted in by P V Narasimha Rao as the country’s 22nd finance minister, refused to allow the crisis to have an upper hand and unleashed reforms, including his groundbreaking 1991 budget that liberalised the economy, ended the licence raj, eliminated public sector monopolies and reduced personal and corporate income taxes. He also showed immense courage in devaluing the rupee. All of this helped the country’s economy develop distinctive traits that are also Singh’s own—quiet and gentle on the outside, but possessing untold strength and resilience underneath.
As RBI governor, Singh stood his ground to protect the central bank’s autonomy. He even moved the courts challenging the government’s decision to relax equity investment norms for non-resident Indians. In another instance, he offered to resign protesting the government’s move to permit the scam-hit Bank of Credit and Commerce International’s entry into India. Thankfully, the government backed off. While at the RBI, he also ended the sovereign’s practice of dipping into the central bank’s resources at will and laid a framework for the government’s market borrowings. From introducing the laws that gave us the rights to information, employment and education, to welfare measures during the 2007-08 global financial crisis, Singh led the country with compassion and sincerity. The nation will forever be in his debt.