By FMTeam Without a single doubt, the main job of a finance minister in India, or in any other nation for that matter, is to manage the country’s finances by coming up with economic policies, preparing the nation’s budget, and keeping an eye on public spending. These are just a few of the most important things that a finance minister in India is usually responsible for, and by doing so, they make sure that the nation’s economic health is stable, and the economy is growing. And since the independence of India, many finance ministers have come and gone, but there are a few who have literally left a good impression for future generations to see. Today, we will take a good look at just that in this list of the top 10 best finance ministers in India of all time. Here we go then.
1. Dr. Manmohan Singh
The individual who is generally credited with the economic reforms of India is Dr. Manmohan Singh, you know, the Finance Minister during the 1991-1996 period. And literally, everybody appreciated the work he did during that period, even the opposition party leaders respected him for that. Like, the economic reforms that Dr. Singh introduced, mainly during the acute financial crunch that India was experiencing along with the low level of foreign exchange reserves, became pivotal in establishing a new market economy for India, that we can say for sure.
2. Yashwant Sinha
Next on the list, Yashwant Sinha, who served as a Finance Minister from 1998-2002, faced a number of challenges including oil price volatility and sanctions from nuclear tests. Like, Yashwant Sinha aimed to implement structural reforms primarily with the deregulation of fuel prices and providing lower interest rates, good infrastructure investments being among them. For sure, his initiatives like creating the National Highways Authority led to increased accessibility and hence the growth of our economy.
3. P. Chidambaram
Just so you know though, P. Chidambaram is known as the father of the 1997 “Dream Budget” in which he was instrumental in bringing about some important tax reforms. Like, the introduction of the scheme was intended to reform the tax laws in India in such a way that they would be implemented by citizens in a simple, easy, and convenient manner and help in the broadening of the tax base right here in the country.
4. Pranab Mukherjee
Did you know that it was actually Pranab Mukherjee who served the Indian economy as the Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012 and his decisions helped the economy to come out of the chaos of the 2008 global financial disaster? Yes, that was a tough time for the country because the entire world was going through a bad recession. For him, the main agenda was to stimulate circulation while sticking to the fiscal discipline the economy had, which consequently led the economy in India to bounce back, you know?
5. Morarji Desai
By serving as the Finance Minister from the late 1950s to the 1960s, Morarji Desai was on record to have presented ten budgets. That’s the most by any other finance minister India has ever seen. His focal point was the policy of fiscal discipline and self-reliance, that we can say for sure. Like, involving self-sufficiency mainly was the theme of the policies of Desai during the first four decades of India’s independence which showed his commitment to the stabilization of the economy.
6. C.D. Deshmukh
As Finance Minister from 1950 to 1956, C.D. Deshmukh was the one behind the creation of mainstream economic policies, some of which we still know after so many decades. Like, he also was the first Indian Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and had the financial expertise to be the one who facilitated the building of India’s First and Second Five-Year Plans. For sure, he was a firm believer in planned economic growth and thus he was a factor in the fact that India took actions toward self-sufficiency based on the development of a solid and rich economy.
7. T.T. Krishnamachari
Then came T.T. Krishnamachari, the Indian leader who played a crucial part in building the mixed economy in India from 1957 to 1962, He most emphatically industrialized and advanced the public sector. From very early on, to make the Indian economy grow, he had two main goals in mind, first was industrialization and second was public sector expansion. And that’s precisely what he did. All in all, T.T. Krishnamachari had a critical and pioneering role in establishing the venue through both the public and the private sector in the country.
8. R. Venkataraman
During his time as Finance Minister from 1980 to 1982, R. Venkataraman was the figure who kinda revived the economy of India when everything was under pressure of inflation. He gave financial balance and paved the way for future reforms through fiscal deficit control. Although his time as the Minister was short, he left a lasting influence on the fiscal policy because he put priority on stability in the economy.
9. Arun Jaitley
Second last on the list, Arun Jaitley, the then Minister of Finance (2014-2019), was the architect of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is a progressive tax reform that unified the Indian market, you know? Like, for the GST, which is the unique selling point of the Indian economy, eliminating various taxes, resulted in compliance and the facilitation of business therefore, Arun Jaitley, the ex-Minister of Finance in India speech, made India more competitive globally.
10. Nirmala Sitharaman
Apart from some minor adjustments that took place in the ministry in the previous year, Nirmala Sitharaman was also made Finance Minister in mid-2019. She sure has become one of the most popular finance ministers in the country, not for good reasons actually, she is being criticized by a big group of people as well as the opposition leaders. The main reason was the recent Budget that she presented, which kinda ignored the middle class. Though she’s currently serving as a finance minister, it will surely be interesting to see what impact she has on the Indian economy.
Conclusion
There you have it. These are by far the best finance ministers India has ever seen. Sure, there will be more in the future who’ll play a huge role in India going further in the global superpower race, but up until now, these are the top figures in this department.