Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister, India

Date of Birth: 26/09/1932

While playing down the notion that it is in competition with China, India has stepped forward with offers that demand attention. At the India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 24-25 May, India extended new credit lines of US$5 billion to Africa (see Feature). After the summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid a visit to Tanzania, where he saw President Jakaya Kikwete.

Singh has longstanding links with Tanzania. He was a Secretary General of the South Commission, an economic development think-tank chaired by Tanzania’s founding President Julius Nyerere. Established in 1987, the Commission released a study in 1990 calling for greater South-South engagement and cooperation.

Singh is India’s fourteenth prime minister and the first Sikh to hold the seat. Born in Punjab Province in 1932, Singh earned a master’s degree in economics at Cambridge University in 1957 and a doctorate in economics from Oxford University in 1962. He taught for many years at Punjab University and the Delhi School of Economics. In 1971, he joined the Commerce Ministry as economic advisor. The following year he became Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry. He was Governor of the Reserve Bank from 1982 to 1985 and Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission from 1987 to 1990.

Singh’s reputation was built on the economic reforms he spearheaded as Finance Minister. From 1991 to 1996, he pursued privatisations, increased foreign direct investment and international trade, transforming the moribund economy. His political career began in 1991, when he won his first seat in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, as a member of the Indian National Congress party. In 2004, after the INC and its coalition partners in the United Progressive Alliance won a majority, INC Chairwoman Sonia Gandhi appointed him Premier. His second term began in 2009.