Manmohan Singh (Punjabi) (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was a prominent Indian politician, economist, academic, and bureaucrat who held the position of the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He ranks as the fourth longest-serving prime minister in Indian history, following Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Narendra Modi. As a member of the Indian National Congress, Singh made history as the first Sikh to assume the role of prime minister in India and was also the first prime minister since Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.
Singh was born in Gah, West Punjab, now part of Pakistan, and his family moved to India during the partition in 1947. He earned a doctorate in economics from Oxford University and worked with the United Nations from 1966 to 1969. His entry into Indian bureaucracy began when Lalit Narayan Mishra appointed him as an advisor in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Singh held several significant positions in the Indian government, including Chief Economic Advisor (1972–1976), Governor of the Reserve Bank (1982–1985), and head of the Planning Commission (1985–1987).
In 1991, amid a dire economic crisis, the newly elected Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao welcomed the technocrat Singh into his cabinet as Finance Minister. During his tenure, Singh faced substantial opposition but successfully implemented a range of structural reforms that liberalized the Indian economy. These initiatives not only helped avert the crisis but also solidified Singh’s reputation as a forward-thinking economist on the global stage. However, the Congress Party did not perform well in the 1996 general elections, leading Singh to serve as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 1998 to 2004 during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration.
In 2004, following the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s victory, Sonia Gandhi unexpectedly stepped aside for Singh to take on the prime ministership. His first government passed several landmark legislations and initiatives, such as the National Rural Health Mission, the Unique Identification Authority, the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the Right to Information Act. Under his leadership, India’s economy experienced substantial growth.
In the 2009 general election, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) secured a stronger mandate, allowing Manmohan Singh to continue as Prime Minister. However, his second term was marred by various corruption allegations related to the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2G spectrum allocation controversy, and the allocation of coal blocks. After his term concluded, Singh chose not to run for Prime Minister in the 2014 Indian general election. Notably, he was never a member of the Lok Sabha, serving instead in the Rajya Sabha, representing Assam from 1991 to 2019 and Rajasthan from 2019 until 2024.
After earning his D.Phil., Singh returned to India, taking up a role as a senior lecturer in economics at Punjab University from 1957 to 1959. He progressed to become a reader in economics from 1959 to 1963 and then a full professor there until 1965. He transitioned to working with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1966 to 1969, after which Lalit Narayan Mishra appointed him as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, recognizing his economic expertise.
Between 1969 and 1971, Singh served as a professor of international trade at the Delhi School of Economics, within the University of Delhi. In 1972, he took on the role of chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance, and by 1976, he was serving as secretary in the same ministry. From 1980 to 1982, he worked at the Planning Commission, and in 1982, he was appointed governor of the Reserve Bank of India, a position he held until 1985. Following that, he served as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission from 1985 to 1987. His next role was as secretary-general of the South Commission, a global economic policy think tank based in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1987 until November 1990.
Upon returning to India in November 1990, Singh became an advisor on economic affairs to Prime Minister Chandra Shekar. By March 1991, he had assumed the chairmanship of the University Grants Commission.
Political Career
In June 1991, at the request of then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, Singh stepped into the role of Finance Minister. Reflecting on that moment in 2005, Singh recounted, “On the day Rao was formulating his cabinet, he sent his Principal Secretary to me with the message, ‘The PM would like you to become the Minister of Finance.’ I didn’t take it seriously at first. The following morning, he tracked me down, clearly upset, insisting that I get dressed and come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony. That’s how I began my journey in politics.”
Minister of Finance
In 1991, India faced a staggering fiscal deficit of nearly 8.5 percent of its GDP, while the balance of payments and the current account deficits hovered around alarming figures, with the current account deficit at about 3.5 percent of GDP. The country’s foreign reserves were a mere US$1 billion, hardly enough to cover two weeks of imports, a stark contrast to the robust US$600 billion in reserves recorded by 2009.
Singh communicated to the Prime Minister and party members that India was grappling with an unparalleled crisis. However, there was considerable resistance within the party towards the idea of deregulation. P. Chidambaram and Singh made it clear that without deregulation, the economy was on the verge of collapse. Much to the party’s chagrin, Rao permitted Singh to proceed with deregulating India’s economy.
With this newfound authority, Singh—previously a key player in India’s socialist framework—moved to dismantle the permit raj, scaling back state control and slashing import tariffs. Rao and Singh together laid down policies intended to liberalize the economy, transitioning India from a socialist model to a more capitalistic one. They tore down the License Raj, which had long hindered the growth of private enterprises, and removed significant barriers that limited Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). They also began privatizing public sector companies. Despite these transformative reforms, Rao’s government ultimately faced defeat in the 1996 elections, primarily due to perceived failures in other areas. Longstanding Cabinet minister P. Chidambaram has lauded Singh’s contribution to shifting India towards a market economy, likening his influence to that of Deng Xiaoping in China.
In 1993, Singh tendered his resignation as Finance Minister following a parliamentary investigation that criticized his ministry for its handling of a US$1.8 billion securities scandal in 1992. However, Prime Minister Rao rejected this resignation, instead vowing to address the accountability of those directly implicated in the findings.
First Term 2004 to 2009 as Prime Minister
After the 2004 general elections, the Indian National Congress successfully ended the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), emerging as the party with the most seats in the Lok Sabha. It formed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) alongside its allies and claimed the right to form the government. In a surprising decision, Chairperson Sonia Gandhi nominated Manmohan Singh, a technocrat, as the UPA’s candidate for prime minister. Despite not having contested a direct election before, Singh was perceived as a clean politician free from the corruption that had plagued many previous administrations, earning him significant popular support, as noted by the BBC. He took oath as the Prime Minister of India on May 22, 2004.
Second Term 2009 – 2014
India conducted general elections for the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases from April 16 to May 13, 2009. The election results were disclosed on May 16, 2009. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) made significant gains in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh, enabling them to form a new government. This marked a historic moment as incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to secure re-election after serving a full five-year term. The Congress party, alongside its allies, garnered a comfortable majority with 322 seats out of 543 in the Lok Sabha, thanks in part to support from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and various smaller parties.
On May 22, 2009, Manmohan Singh took the oath of office as prime minister during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Death
Singh faced numerous health challenges, including multiple cardiac bypass surgeries, the last of which occurred in January 2009. In May 2020, he was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi following a severe reaction to his medication. He was hospitalized again in October 2021 due to weakness and fever.
On December 26, 2024, Singh was rushed to the emergency department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, for heart-related issues linked to his advanced age after he collapsed at his residence. He passed away a few hours later at the age of 92.
In the wake of his passing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Singh, calling him “India’s most distinguished leader” and proclaimed a period of national mourning. President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi, Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda also extended their condolences, commending Singh for his leadership and contributions to the nation.
