Architect of India's economic reforms, "Mr Clean" Manmohan Singh has had a stupendous rise from Economics Professor to the Prime Minister, becoming the first Sikh to hold the top post.

Oxford-Cambridge-educated 71-year-old soft-spoken and mild-mannered economist-turned-politician, Singh is credited with changing the face of the country in the comity of nations during the five years as Finance Minister from 1991-96 in the P V Narasimha Rao Government.

Profiles of Union Ministers

Born in Gah in Peshawar in Pakistan on September 26, 1932, as the son of a fruit merchant, he shot into prominence after he introduced liberalisation and steered the economy from the pits of a severe balance of payments crisis, saving it from the verge of defaulting its external payments in 1991.

The humble bespectacled economic czar, who prefers sky-blue turban and kurta-pyjama, changed the outlook of foreigners towards India, whose economy was in a shambles in the early 1990s, with an unsustainable fiscal deficit of close to 8.5 per cent of GDP and the economy stagnating at a Hindu rate of growth of 4.0 per cent.

Father of three girls, the member of Rajya Sabha from Assam has held several key positions in the Government, including Chief Economic Advisor and Finance Secretary before becoming Governor of Reserve Bank of India and then Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission and UGC Chairman in 1980s and early '90S.

As Finance Minister, he changed the fundamental way corporate India thinks and with it the life of millions of middle-class Indians by liberalising the economy.

Having grown up in an era of socialism, Singh did not believe in total free-market economy and always held the view that economic reforms should be carried out with a human face so that the transition was "painless", particularly to the poor and the workers.

Singh, who unshackled the country from the bureaucratic controls and licence-permit raj, had taken the economy from the brink of bankruptcy to a high growth path of 6-7 per cent during his five-year stint at North Block.

Eldest of four brothers and six sisters, he along with his family migrated from Peshawar to Amritsar when he was 14. His father Gurmukh Singh then earned livelihood by starting fruit business.

A universally well-regarded Professor of Economics, he was educated at Punjab University first and then in Oxford and Cambridge. His potential was evident when he won Cambridge's prestigious Adam Smith Prize in 1956.

The following year, he returned to India and taught at Punjab University for nine years before being posted for international duty with UNCTAD (1966-69).

He then joined the Delhi School of Economics as a professor. Two years later, his academic career was cut short and he joined the Government to serve in various capacities.

In all these positions, those who worked with him have nothing but admiration for Singh's talent and conduct.

Hard-working, meticulous, charming and "such a nice man", they all said about Singh.

Despite being "unfailingly polite", Singh is known for his hard and bold economic decisions. As Finance Minister, before he presented his historic Budget in 1994, Singh went to the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and told him that India needed a strong vision to take it forward.

"I said to him (Rao) it is possible that we will still collapse. But there is a chance that if we take bold measures, we may turn around and that I said is an opportunity. We must convert this crisis into an opportunity to build a new India, to do things which many people before us had thought should be done but somehow never done," Singh had said.

Rao had backed Singh to the hilt and India embarked on a path of reforms. And Government that year entered into an understanding with RBI to deny itself the right to draw on the RBI to fund its deficit.

Unlike when he became Finance Minister, the country's economy is now on a sure footing. But that does not mean his task is any easier, that too considering the fact that he is heading a coalition Government. This time he has to ensure that the benefits of the new economic regime start reaching the poor.

Looking back, Singh says when he stood up in Parliament stating the case for reforms, his argument was that in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, it was time to think big rather than tighten the belt.

"We could, in a traditional way, tighten our belt and we did that, tighten and tighten. But persistence on that path would have led to more misery, more unemployment," Singh had said.

He had suggested an "alternate path" - Stabilisation plus a credible structural adjustment programme - that would shorten the period of misery.

"It would release the innovative spirit, entrepreneurial spirit which was always there in India in such a manner that our economy would grow at a much faster pace, sooner than most people believed. That's exactly what happened," Singh had said recalling the old days.

For what Singh has done as Finance Minister, there are as many critics as admirers. Thrice he had submitted his resignation during his five-year tenure but the then Prime Minister Rao did not allow him to quit.

First time was when Congress Party was agitated by the hike in fertiliser prices; the second time when the financial scam involving big-bull Harshad Mehta came to light; and lastly when Joint Parliamentary Party submitted its report to criticise some Union Ministers and his Ministry on the scam.

Fortunately, the reform foundation that Singh had laid had only taken the country forward and was pursued by the subsequent United Front and NDA Governments.

As the economy is looking up with over 8 per cent growth last year and a record agriculture growth of 16.9 per cent, Singh might not have any pressing economic problems. But this time he would have to deal with not only the economy but domestic, political and foreign issues.

These are certainly not new to him. As Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, he had effectively handled various political issues including Ayodhya and Iraq war during heated debates in the Upper House.

Singh had also effectively argued India's case at Global Human Rights Conference in Geneva when Pakistan raised the issue of Human Rights violation in Jammu and Kashmir. Rao had sent him at the head of the Indian delegation even though Singh was Finance Minister at that time.