How Dr. Manmohan Singh Was Appointed As Finance Minister In 1991: ‘A Late Night Call That…’

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of Indian economy, died on Thursday night at Delhi AIIMS, marking the end of an era. As the entire country pays him homage, let’s take a deep dive into the past and remember how he was appointed the Union Finance Minister.

When Dr Manmohan Singh received a late night call

It was 1991 and Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was chairman of the University Grants Commission, had returned from Netherlands. Later that night, Dr Singh received a call from PC Alexander, the then principal secretary of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

Totally unexpected, Alexander informed Dr. Singh that he was going to be Prime Minister’s PV Narasimha Rao’s pick for the Union Finance Minister.

Dr. Manmohan Singh received the call to take up the responsibility of being the next Finance Minister at a time when the Indian economy was under a tremendous pressure amid a rising debt, depleting forex reserves, global challenges aroused due to the end of Soviet Union, rising oil prices, rising cost of imports and what not, basically, the economy was staring a big default.

Recalling the moment he was asked to take up the job of the Finance Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh once said that the then principal secretary of the Prime Minister had told him jokingly that if things worked then they all will take credit and if not then he would be sacked.

Dr. Singh revealed this in the book ‘Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan’ that was authored by his daughter Daman Singh.

Dr. Singh took oath as Finance Minister on June 21, 1991 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

As Finance Minister, Dr. Singh is remembered as the one who saved India from an economic default when he opened the economy and formulated a new industrial policy.