Dr Manmohan Singh

In many ways Dr Manmohan Singh was an exception to the rule. He was a rare person with impeccable personal integrity (no one can point a finger at him on matters of integrity), humble (never came to the front to create a brand for himself), self effacing (never tried to project himself as a macho man through statements or photographs or videos) not at all power hungry (power came to him and he did not go after power), always worked for the good of the people (many programs launched by him as a PM benefited the poor) and an intellectual / scholar par excellence (the only PhD and academician among our Prime Ministers, if my memory serves me right). An ideotype that does not at all fit our political scene!! He was not only an exception in that sense but also he was an exceptional, evolved and Satvik human being!

Everyone knows that he and the then Prime Minister Shri Narasimha Rao formed a formidable team that liberalized the Indian economy between 1991 and 1995. They unshackled the industry, invited foreign investments, companies and technologies and removed most of the obstacles in the economic growth of the country. This unleashed the hidden business potential of India and of Indians.

Many of the youngsters may not understand how India looked before 1991. Here are some glimpses of how India looked especially in 60s, 70s and 80s.

Public sector was given the prime position in many industries. Some large industrial houses were there. In general private investments were low. It was a shortage situation. Customer was incidental to business! Customer service used to be poor!

We had only one airline – Air India & Indian Airlines. No competition. Getting a flight ticket sometimes required recommendations!

We had only one Insurance company – LIC. The products were limited and the claim process used to be laborious due to manual records being maintained in all their offices.

Railway travel used to be onerous – booking a ticket involved long Qs near booking counters at railway stations!

Computerization just started but it was very rudimentary at that stage. There were strikes by government employees and bank employees against computerization due to the fear of losing jobs!

We had Ambassador, Fiat and Standard cars for many decades till Maruti – Suzuki came in the 80s. We had to wait for delivery of scooters and cars for months together after booking them.

There was a limit on the salary of the MD of a company which in turn restricted the salaries companies could pay to the other employees in the company. The income tax rates were high and the structure was more complicated with a long list of exemptions and deductions allowed. This led to many cases of tax evasion which in turn led to many income tax raids on the companies.

On the other hand purchasing power of people was low. India was not a major market since the disposable income was low.

Country’s foreign exchange reserves were low. We could buy a very limited number of US Dollars from RBI for International travel.

The job scenario was quite poor. Engineering education had not yet taken off as the opportunities were limited. Employment exchanges were overflowing with job aspirants.

The liberalization process was started in 1991 by the Prime Minister Shri Narasimha Rao and the Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It was a watershed moment in India’s economic development. During their 5 year tenure they dismantled most of the restrictions on the industry and foreign investments. This changed the scenario quickly. Foreign investments started flowing in. Joint Ventures, especially in automobiles started. Private insurance companies and airlines were allowed in the following years. With increased supply of goods and services the need to satisfy the customer assumed importance. We have seen a lot of innovation and new product introductions in many fields. LIC did a great job of improving itself in the face of competition from private and foreign firms – they did a better job than what Air India did in their sector. Some of the large public sector units were sold to private sector. It was realized that government should not be in business. In general private investments went up due to the liberalization.

The restrictions on MD’s salary were removed, unleashing a huge upsurge in the salary levels of company employees. Income tax structures were simplified and the rates were moderated down.

In 1995 WTO came into operation and saw the onset of a new global order in Intellectual Property management through TRIPS in 1996. India also updated their IP laws which helped in attracting foreign companies and investments. Technological developments led to many new innovations. The IT revolution started after the liberalization and it picked up speed towards the end of 90s, giving rise to a huge employment opportunity for the educated youth from middle and lower middle classes. Many Engineering colleges sprung up to meet the Increasing demand for engineers from the IT industry. Population and income increases gave rise to an upsurge in demand for food which the farmers met with the help of new products and solutions from the agricultural input industries. Agricultural output and food industries stepped up their operations to meet the demands of the rapidly changing food basket of the population.

By the time Dr Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister in 2004 the face of India started changing. He said famously “we have reached a stage of development where we should welcome, rather than fear, foreign investment. Our entrepreneurs are second to none. Our industry has come of age". The tremendous growth of the Indian economy in the last 25 years has confirmed his belief in the power of India and the Indian enterprise. The Indo-US nuclear deal was another feather in his cap.

Throughout his work in the government he never lost sight of the common man on the street and wanted to always take care of the poorer sections of the society along with a strong growth of the economy. Schemes like Right to Education, National Food Security Act and MGNREGA provided the safety net for the poorer sections of the society.

With increased competition due to the entry of Indian and foreign companies in many sectors the quality of products and the quality of customer service improved dramatically in the last 25 years. The entertainment industry, the TV channels, the OTT platforms and several other lifestyle industries scaled up rapidly in the last 20 years.

While technological development made it possible for initiatives like PAN Card, Aadhar Card and digitization of many services it was the long term visionary leadership of Prime Ministers Shri Narasimha Rao, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh initially and of Shri Narendra Modi in the last 10 years that has transformed the profile of India on the global platform.

At the end of the day the world respects countries that have large economic power followed by military power and market size. India entered this league in the last 25 years. Today India sits at the high table of global multilateral platforms and wields considerable influence on global matters because of our economic, military and market power. The major credit for this transformation must go to Dr Manmohan Singh who initiated this process as the Finance Minister and later nurtured it to unlock its hidden power during his tenure as Prime Minister.

With the passing of Dr Manmohan Singh today many people felt as though they lost a family member. Such respect and emotional bond with the people of India was achieved by very few people. And it does not come unless the people of India are convinced about the impeccable credentials and the work of someone as being pathbreaking and for the good of the country.

I have no doubt that history will judge him to be the best Finance Minister India has ever had and one of the best Prime Ministers we were honored to have!

As Dr Manmohan Singh departs from the world that he has enriched immensely, let us thank him with respect and gratitude for what he did. He was a very very rare and special star who will continue to shine and guide us! He will be remembered for all time to come!

May God bless his noble soul with eternal peace and Sadgati that it richly deserves!