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September 30, 2005|Volume 34, Number 5


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P. Chidambaram (left), who was named India's finance minister in 2004, is greeted by a student during his visit to campus.



India's finance minister discusses
links in the global economy

The rapid growth of the economies of China, India and the developing world will require the global community to re-think its economic and development practices, said P. Chidambaram, India's finance minister, during a recent Yale talk.

Chidambaram was on campus to deliver the Trumbull Lecture, titled "U.S.-India Economic Relations and the Evolving World Economy," on Sept. 22.

The inter-connectedness of the global economy means that localized events in one part of the world have the deep potential to impact other parts, said Chidambaram. He pointed to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina which, he said, not only affected the Gulf Coast of the United States but because of its impact on oil prices, affected factories in Shanghai and the common auto-rickshaw driver and rider in Kolkata.

Chidambaram predicted that China, India and the United States would remain the dominant economies into the 21st century, and that developing economies would contribute a great share to the global economy. The collaboration of China, India and the United States, he said, will be key to addressing the four major problems faced by the global community: delays in completing the Doha round of the World Trade Organization, terrorism, international financial architecture and global warming.

Regarded as the architect of the booming Indian economy, Chidambaram is known for his pro-market reforms and his ambitious steps to abolish government bureaucracy. He is responsible for the fiscal and economic oversight of the rapidly growing Indian economy, and has been credited with boosting investor confidence both in India and abroad.

Economists acclaimed his "dream-budget" for 1996-1997, in which he brought discipline in government spending and launched an ambitious tax reform program to tackle an unwieldy fiscal deficit. A firm believer in free trade and a strong supporter of the World Trade Organization, Chidambaram maintains that a rule-based global trading system will benefit developing countries.

After graduating with a B.Sc. from Presidency College, Chennai, and an LL.B. from Madras University, Chidambaram earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

First elected to the Indian parliament in 1984, Chidambaram has won re-election five times. He was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers in 1985 as a deputy minister in the Ministry of Commerce and then in the Ministry of Personnel. He was elevated to the rank of minister of state in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in 1986. Later that year, he was appointed to the Ministry of Home Affairs as minister of state for internal security, and continued to hold both offices until the general elections were called in 1989.

Following the elections in June 1991, he was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as minister of state in the Ministry of Commerce and held the post till July 1992. It was during this period that major economic reforms were launched in India. He was re-appointed as minister of state in the Ministry of Commerce in 1995 and named finance minister in 1996, a post he held till 1998. He took over as the minister of finance in the United Progressive Alliance government on May 24, 2004.

-- By George Joseph


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