THE COMPLETE ECONOMIST

THE MANMOHAN SINGH ERA WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE ONE THAT CHANGED THE IMAGE OF INDIA, NOT MERELY IN THE ECONOMIC SPHERE, BUT IN EVERY OTHER ASPECT

- K.M. CHANDRASEKHAR

►MANMOHAN SINGH will be remembered by posterity as the architect of new India, as the man who, in collaboration with Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, changed the face of the Indian economy. Many times, when, as PM, he was downcast, I used to tell him, “Sir, a hundred years hence, you will be considered the leader who changed India, who put us firmly on the path of growth.” I am strongly of the opinion that the Manmohan Singh era will go down in history as the one that changed the image of India, not merely in the economic sphere, but in every other aspect, making India a respected global power today, economically and politically powerful.

I recall that in the early ‘80s, when I went to the University of Leeds for a training programme, India was no better than a third-world country. India found no mention in any leading British newspaper. By the end of the ‘90s, when I was posted first to Brussels, then to Geneva, the situation had changed dramatically. Rarely did a day go by without the mention of India. Investment interest in India had grown significantly. Throughout my tenure as Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, there was intense pressure on India to open our large and prosperous domestic market.