NEW DELHI: Manmohan Singh, the former prime minister of India and architect of the country’s economic liberalization, has passed away at the age of 92.
Singh, who served two terms as prime minister and held key roles in government, was hospitalised at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi late on Thursday due to his prolonged illness.
“With profound grief, we inform the demise of Former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, aged 92. He was being treated for age-related medical conditions and had sudden loss of consciousness at home on 26th December 2024. Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to the Medical Emergency at AIIMS, New Delhi at 8:06 PM. Despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 9:51 PM,” AIIMS said in a statement, confirming the death.
An economist by training, Singh was instrumental in transforming India’s economy during his tenure as finance minister in the early 1990s. His policies of economic liberalisation are credited with opening up India to global markets, setting the stage for the country’s rapid growth.
Born on September 26, 1932, in Gah, a village in the Punjab province of British India (now in Pakistan), Singh’s family migrated to India after the partition in 1947.
Despite the turmoil of partition, he excelled academically, earning a first-class degree in Economics from Panjab University, Chandigarh. Singh continued his studies at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a postgraduate degree in Economics in 1957, and later earned a DPhil from the University of Oxford in 1962.
Singh began his career in public service in 1972 as Chief Economic Advisor, navigating India through a period of inflation and global oil shocks. He went on to serve as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1982 to 1985, where he focused on economic stabilization and financial regulation. He also held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission from 1985 to 1987, playing a crucial role in shaping India’s long-term economic strategies.
Ex-prime minister entered politics in 1991 when then-Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao appointed him as Finance Minister. In a candid interview with British journalist Mark Tully in 2005, Singh recounted the moment by saying, ”On the day (Rao) was formulating his cabinet, he sent his Principal Secretary to me saying, ‘The PM would like you to become the Minister of Finance’. I didn’t take it seriously. He eventually tracked me down the next morning, rather angry, and demanded that I get dressed up and come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing in. So that’s how I started in politics”.
As Finance Minister, Singh faced a severe economic crisis, with India facing a balance of payments issue and dwindling foreign reserves. His groundbreaking reforms, which included liberalizing the economy, encouraging privatization, and integrating India into global markets, not only averted the crisis but also set India on a path to becoming one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Singh served two consecutive terms as Prime Minister, leading a coalition government under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). His tenure from 2004 to 2014 was marked by rapid economic growth, which positioned India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
During this period, he introduced landmark social reforms, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the Right to Information Act. Singh also negotiated the historic Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, which ended decades of nuclear isolation for India.
However, his tenure as Prime Minister was also marred by corruption scandals, such as the 2G spectrum case and the coal block allocation controversy, which cast a shadow over his achievements.
In recent years, Singh withdrew from active politics due to health reasons, with his last public appearance being in January 2024 at the launch of his daughter’s book.
He retired from the Rajya Sabha in April 2024.
