There are wide spread speculations in corridors of power in the Capital that Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia may take over as the next finance minister of India.
"The speculation arises from the fact that Monek Singh has been helping Dr Manmohan Singh in preparing the next Budget," a senior Congress leader told rediff.com.
This was further strengthened by the fact Montek held a press conference on Friday explaining the position of the government in reviving the country's economy.
"By the middle of 2009 we would have over 5-point fiscal growth and by 2010 the slowdown would come to an end," he had explained.
The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission said that the government could not force foreign banks to lend money to its customers. "But the government can ask the Indian banks to lend money. Banks can be forced to cut and they can be forced to lend," Ahuwalia said.
Asked whether the present government would benefit from the policies during the coming Lok Sabha elections, he said that in politics every government tries to take advantage of the situation and formulate policies that would help them.
Before being appointed the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission by the United Progressive Alliance government on June 16, 2004, Ahluwalia was the first director of the Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund.
Prior to taking up his position at the IMF, Ahluwalia was a Member of the Planning Commission in New Delhi as well as a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister.
He had previously served as finance secretary at the ministry of finance, secretary at the department of economic affairs, commerce secretary, special secretary to the prime minister and economic advisor to the ministry of finance.
In 2007 he became a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.
Image: Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission. | Photograph: Sebastian Derungs/Reuters
