Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India during 2004-2014

Personal Details:

Date of Birth: 24 November 1943
Nationality: Indian
Marital Status: Married – two children.

Education

• B.A.(Hons.) Economics, Delhi University.
• M.A., Oxford University
• M.Phil.,Oxford University.

Present Position
Since 04.07.04

Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India
Parliament Street, New Delhi – 110001 (India)
Tel.: 91-11-23096677.

Brief Profile

Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India. He has been a key figure in India’s economic reforms from the mid 1980s onwards. For his outstanding contribution to economic policy and public service, he was conferred the prestigious 'Padma Vibhushan' by the President of India in 2011.

Born on 24th November, 1943, Shri Ahluwalia received his Bachelors degree from St. Stephens College, Delhi University. He received an M.A. and an M. Phil degree in Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. After completion of studies, he joined the World Bank in 1968 as a young professional and held various positions including Chief of the Income Distribution Division.

He joined the Government of India in 1979 as Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance after which he held a series of positions including Special Secretary to the Prime Minister; Commerce Secretary; Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs; Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Member of the Planning Commission and Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. In 2001, he was appointed as the first Director of the newly created Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monitary Fund. He resigned the position in 2004 to take up the position of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission which he holds at present.

Shri Ahluwalia has written on various aspects of development economics, including Indian economic policy and his articles have been published in a number of prominent Indian and international journals and books. He co-authored ‘Re-distribution with Growth: An Approach to Policy’, published in 1975. He also wrote ‘Reforming the Global Financial Architecture’, which was published in 2004 as Economic Paper No. 41 by the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

Shri Ahluwalia has received several honorary degrees including an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Oxford. He is an honorary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Global Green Growth Institute, South Korea.

Publications

• Re-distribution with Growth: An Approach to Policy, jointly with H. Chenery, C. Bell, J. Duloy, and R. Jolly, Oxford University Press, 1975.
• Reforming the Global Financial Architecture, Economic Paper No. 41. Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 2000.

Articles in Professional Journals/Books

• “Taxes, Subsidies and Employment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1973.
• ‘Inequality, Poverty and Development,” Journal of Development Economics, 1976.
• “Income Distribution and Development: Some stylized Facts.” The American Economic Review, May 1976. Re-printed in French translation in Actualite Economique, July 1977.
• “Rural Poverty and Agricultural Performance in India,” Journal of Development Studies, April 1978.
• “Who Benefits from Economic Growth-An Examination of Fields’ Re-Examination for Brazil,” jointly with J.H. Duloy, G.Pyatt, and T.N. Srinivasan, American Economic Review.
• “Multipliers and Model Structure,” jointly with Frank Lysy, Journal of Policy Modelling, 1979.
• “World Growth and Poverty,” jointly with H.B. Chenery and N. Carter, Journal of Development Economics, 1979. Re-printed in Structural Change and Development Policies by Hollis Chenery, Oxford University Press, 1979.
• “The Exchange Rate System: Some Issues,” jointly with C. Rangarajan. Re-print of an earlier draft presented at a Round Table organised by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, 1984.
• “The International Debt Problem,” India International Centre, New Delhi, Monograph Series No. 6. 1985.
• “Rural Poverty, Agricultural Production and Prices: A Re¬examination,” published in Agricultural Change and Rural Poverty: Variations on a Theme by Dharm Narain, John W. Mellor and Gunwant M. Desai, eds., Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.
• “Fiscal Incentives for Employment Promotion,” published in Employment Policy in a Developing Country (Vol. 1). Proceedings of a Conference of the International Economic Association.
• “Balance of Payments Adjustments in India, 1970-71 to 1983-84,” World Development Vol. 14. 1984.
• “India’s Economic Performance, Policies and Prospects,” published in The Indian Economy—Recent Developments and Future Prospects, edited by Robert E.B. Lucas, and Gustav F. Papanek. Oxford University Press, New Delhi

1988.

• “Policies for Poverty Alleviation,” Asian Development Review, Asian Development Bank 1990, Vol. 8 No. 1.
• “India’s Economic Reforms,” published in The Future of Economic Reforms. Edited by Robert Cassen and Vijay Joshi, Oxford University Press, New Delhi 1995.
• “Structural Adjustment and Reform in Developing Countries,” printed in International Monetary and Financial System: Developing Country Perspectives. Proceedings of a Conference sponsored by the Group of 24 on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bretton Woods Conference at Cartagena, Columbia, 18-20 April 1994, UNCTAD 1994.
• “India’s Quiet Economic Revolution,” The Columbia Journal of World Business, Spring, 1994.
• “New Economic Policy and Agriculture,” inaugural address delivered at the 55th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics held at Institute of Rural Management, Anand (Gujarat) in November 1995, published in the Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 51, No. 3, July-September 1996.
• “SDR Allocations and the Present Articles of Agreement,” published in The Future of the SDR in Light of Changes in the International Financial System, IMF, 1997.
• “Financing Private Infrastructure: Lessons from India,” published in Choices for Efficient Private Provision of Infrastructure in East Asia, edited by Harinder Kohli, Ashoka Mody, and Michael Walton, World Bank, 1997.
• “The IMF and the World Bank in the New Financial Architecture,” printed in International Monetary and Financial Issues for the 1990s, Vol XI, UNCTAD, Geneva.
• “Infrastructure Development in India’s Reforms,” published in Indian Economic Reforms and Development: Essays for Manmohan Singh, edited by Isher Judge Ahluwalia and IMD Little, Oxford University Press, New Delhi,

1998.

• "India’s Economic Reforms: An Appraisal,” published in India in the Era of Economic Reforms, edited by Jeffrey Sachs and Nirupam Bajpai. Oxford, l999.
• "Reforming India’s Financial Sector: An Overview,” published in India: A Financial Sector to the Twenty First Century,” edited by James A. Hanson and Sanjay Kathuria. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999.
• "Economic Performance of the States in the Post-Reforms Period,” Economic and Political Weekly, May 6, 2000.
• "State Level Performance Under Economic Reforms in India,” published in Economic Policy Reforms and the Indian Economy, edited by Anne O. Krueger, University of Chicago Press, 2002.
• "Economic Reforms in India since 1991: Has Gradualism Worked?” Forthcoming in Journal of Economic Perspectives, August 2002.

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