Transfer of welfare benefits straight to the account of the recipient, the rural jobs scheme named after Mahatma Gandhi that offers a legally guaranteed fall-back option to many whenever the weather-dependant rural economy suffers a shock, and a law guaranteeing food security shine through India’s welfare framework, while the Aadhaar-backed identification system powers India’s digital economy success.
Also read | P. Chidambaram on Manmohan Singh: One journey ends, another continues
A towering statesman and the driving force behind India’s economic reforms, Singh passed away on Thursday at 92, leaving a legacy that has reshaped India’s economic and welfare landscape.
“He was an economist par excellence and ensured economic stability and liberalization of the economy. He effectively handled inflation and unemployment. Additionally, when the entire world faced the financial crises of 2008, he ensured that all banks in India were stable,” M. Veerappa Moily, former Union minister of petroleum, law, power and corporate affairs, and former chief minister of Karnataka, said in a social media post. Moily, who served in Manmohan Singh’s cabinet, said Singh “was a good man, and I will miss him very dearly.”
Economic liberalization
Singh, prime minister from 2004 to 2014 and finance minister from 1991 to 1996, is seen as the visionary behind India’s economic liberalization. His reforms not only rescued India from the 1991 financial crisis, but also reshaped its economy into a globally integrated, market-driven powerhouse.
“Throughout his tenure, he had great empathy for the poor. He did not hide the fact that many millions of Indians are poor and reminded us that the government’s policies must lean in favour of the poor. Examples of his empathy are MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and the restructuring of PDS (Public Distribution System) and the extension of the mid-day meal scheme,” said P. Chidambaram, Singh’s former cabinet colleague and former Union finance minister, on social media website X.
Also read | Manmohan Singh, the leader who liberalized India
Singh abolished the licence raj, dismantling restrictive regulations that stifled private enterprise and encouraging entrepreneurship and foreign investment during a critical balance of payments crisis. He reduced import tariffs, slashing them to around 50% from over 300%, promoting trade and spurring domestic innovation.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows surged under his leadership as restrictions eased in sectors like telecommunications, insurance and retail, boosting job creation and infrastructure development. Singh’s tax reforms simplified compliance, reduced tax slabs and lowered maximum tax rates, fostering economic activity and improving government revenues.
Inclusive growth
As prime minister, Singh championed inclusive growth through welfare initiatives like the 2013 National Food Security Act, which provided subsidized food grains to two-thirds of India’s population, addressing hunger and malnutrition.
Singh’s enduring legacy lies in his ability to balance economic growth with social equity, leaving an indelible mark on India’s development trajectory.
Under his prime ministership, the government also implemented MGNREGA in February 2006, which aims to provide livelihood security to rural households in India by guaranteeing at least 100 days of wage employment annually.
“Together with P.V. Narasimha Rao, he brought about a paradigm shift from an India ridiculed for its ‘Hindu rate of growth’—an India that faced a catastrophic economic crisis stemming from the twin deficits of a balance-of-payments crisis and a huge fiscal deficit—to an India that achieved about 7% steady growth and emerged as a growth driver of the global economy,” said Manoranjan Sharma, chief economist, Infomerics Ratings, and a former chief economist with Canara Bank.
“While advancing extensive economic reforms in India and scrapping license, permit and quota raj to extricate India from an imminent economic disaster, he was fully conscious of the compelling need to promote ‘development with a human face,’ financial inclusion, Aadhaar and MNREGA. Despite the threat to his government, he firmly stood his ground over the nuclear deal with the US and ably steered the country’s economy through the global financial crisis of 2008,” he added.
Transformative legislation
Under Singh’s leadership, the United Progressive Alliance government also introduced transformative rights-based legislation, including the Right to Education and Right to Information Acts.
These landmark laws have since become pillars of governance, shaping policies and practices across successive administrations, including the current government.
However, his ability to reform got somewhat constrained during his prime ministership due to pressures of coalition politics.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing away of former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, a visionary economist and former RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Governor. His contributions as the architect of India’s economic reforms have left an indelible mark. RBI joins the nation in mourning this huge loss,” RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said in a post on X.
Also read | Manmohan Singh: The archetypical insider who guided India towards its economic potential
Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, former private secretary to Singh and former secretary in the ministry of new and renewable energy told Mint: “I worked with Dr. Manmohan Singh for six years when he was Prime Minister of India. As we mourn his passing away, I would like to remember the person he was. I think Harish Khare (Singh’s media adviser) has got it just right while describing him as a man possessing ‘lofty decency’. Add to this his deep empathy for others, which often found expression in concern for those around him, his refusal to engage in negative conversations, even when discussing his political opponents, his ability to listen with complete attention and his love for detail in work, and you get an idea of his persona. His was a broad, liberal world view, in which smallness and pettiness had no place. In the 6 years I spent with him, not even once was there a dilution of the high standards he had set for himself. You come across such men but rarely in life. He was a person who would make you feel uplifted each and every time you met him.”
