Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Indian economist and civil servant who was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic of India, has been a key figure in the Indian economic reform process. At the age of 28, he became the youngest “Division Chief” in the World Bank’s bureaucracy, in charge of the Income Distribution Division in the World Bank’s Development Research Centre. He returned to India to take up the position of Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, and later held several senior positions as a civil servant, including Special Secretary to the Prime Minister, Commerce Secretary, Secretary Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry, and Finance Secretary. In 1998 he was appointed Member of the Planning Commission, and in 2001, was chosen by the Board of the International Monetary Fund to be the first director of the newly created Independent Evaluation Office. In June 2004, he resigned from the IMF position to become the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission as part of the United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi, a position he held until 2014.

Mr. Ahluwalia has a BA Honours Degree in Economics from Delhi University and an MA and MPhil degrees from Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading history, playing golf, and traveling with his wife, Isher Ahluwalia, who is also an economist.