Manmohan Singh Biography: Know Everything About The Former Prime Minister of India, Education, Background, and More

Manmohan Singh Biography: Dr. Manmohan Singh was an Indian politician, economist, professor, and bureaucrat who served as India’s 13th Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014. He died at the age of 92 on December 26, 2024. He was the fourth-longest-serving prime minister, following Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Narendra Modi. Singh, a member of the Indian National Congress, served as India's first Sikh Prime Minister. He was also the first prime minister since Nehru to be re-elected after serving an entire five-year term.

Let us know more about his biography, education, family, and more.

Early Life & Education

Manmohan Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in Gah, Punjab (now in Pakistan), British India, to Gurmukh Singh Kohli and Amrit Kaur. Following the untimely demise of his mother during his early childhood, he was brought up by his paternal grandmother. His initial education took place at a local gurdwara, where he studied Urdu and Punjabi. On April 17, 1937, he was enrolled in the Government Primary School in his locality, continuing his Urdu-medium education until the age of 10, at which point his family relocated to Peshawar. There, Singh pursued his education at the Khalsa School at the upper-primary level.

After the Partition of India in 1947, Singh’s family migrated to Haldwani, India, and subsequently settled in Amritsar in 1948. He pursued his higher education at Hindu College, Amritsar, and later attended Panjab University (then located in Hoshiarpur), where he specialized in Economics. Singh excelled academically, earning both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1952 and 1954, respectively, and securing first position throughout his studies. He furthered his education at the University of Cambridge, completing his Economics Tripos in 1957 as a member of St John’s College.

Upon returning to India, Singh served as a lecturer at Panjab University. In 1960, he proceeded to the University of Oxford to pursue his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree as a member of Nuffield College. His doctoral thesis, completed in 1962 under the guidance of Ian Little, was titled ‘India’s Export Performance, 1951–1960: Export Prospects and Policy Implications’. This work later formed the basis of his acclaimed book, ‘India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth’.

Initial Career 

Dr. Singh worked as a senior lecturer in economics at Punjab University from 1957 to 1959 after earning his D.Phil. Between 1959 and 1963, he was a reader in economics at the same university, and from 1963 to 1965, he was named professor of economics. Dr. Singh later worked for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1966 and 1969. He was thereafter hired as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Trade by Lalit Narayan Mishra. Between 1969 and 1971, he was a professor of international commerce at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

Dr. Singh joined the Ministry of Finance as Chief Economic Adviser in 1972. By 1976, he was promoted to the position of Secretary in the Finance Ministry. From 1980 to 1982, he served on the Planning Commission before being nominated Governor of the Reserve Bank of India under then-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a position he retained until 1985. Dr. Singh served as Deputy Chairman of India's Planning Commission from 1985 to 1987. He later served as Secretary General of the South Commission, an independent economic policy think tank situated in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1987 to November 1990.

Dr. Singh returned to India in November 1990 to serve as the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Economic Affairs under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar. In March 1991, he was named Chairman of the University Grants Commission.