Nand Kishore ‘NK’ Singh: A very civil servant indeed

By Arvind Panagariya

Unlike the US, it is rare for senior public servants in India to publish their memoirs. As a result, we have relative scarcity of first-hand accounts of internal discussions preceding major policy decisions. So, it is refreshing that Nand Kishore ‘NK’ Singh has penned his autobiography. It gives readers a rare peek into inner workings of GoI from the 1970s till the early 2000s, while also offering occasional snapshots of the earlier period through the eyes of his distinguished father, T P Singh.

An Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer of 1936 batch, the Singh Sr had served as finance secretary during the heady days of bank nationalisation. Sadly, he himself left no personal account whatsoever of his professional life that extended into what were independent India’s first two-and-a-half foundational decades.


It will be an understatement to say that NK was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Early in the autobiography, he tells the story of his maternal grandfather (nana) giving Jawaharlal Nehru a tour of Purnea and adjoining districts in Bihar in his Pontiac. As the tour began, Nehru asked who the owner of the vast land around them was. Nana sheepishly replied that it was he.

As the tour progressed, Nehru dozed off and, waking up a couple of hours later, repeated the question. To his horror, he got the same answer. That led him to resolve then and there that he would impose a ceiling on land holding when he came to power. Unsurprisingly, having learnt to enjoy the luxuries of life early on, NK preferred to spend summer vacations with nana rather than his less affluent paternal grandfather.

NK was a bright student. Immediately after completing his Master’s at the Delhi School of Economics, he was appointed to the faculty of St Stephen’s College. But the family pressured him to take civil service examinations. He got selected for both Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) at 23 in 1964. He chose IFS, but the family once again prevailed over him in favour of IAS.

In 1967, NK married the granddaughter of the maharaja of Jodhpur, Umaid Singh, Prem Kumari. The transition from a life of opulence in a palace to the rugged terrain of drought-prone Danapur in Bihar, where NK was posted, was a difficult one for Kumari. But what really devastated her was to find out one day that her husband’s monthly salary was a measly sum of Rs 750. Her junior managers back in Jodhpur made a multiple of that amount.

Luckily, life quickly changed as NK got appointed as undersecretary in the ministry of commerce in the GoI in 1969. That brought the young couple to Delhi. From there, NK went on to launch one of the most successful careers in civil service, culminating in appointments as secretary in all three departments of the finance ministry in existence at the time: economic affairs (1993-95), expenditure (1995-96) and revenue (1996-98). The icing on the cake was his final bureaucratic appointment as secretary to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998-2001).

In between, NK had a highly successful stint as economics and commerce minister in the Indian embassy in Japan. In that role, he helped bring to fruition the Maruti-Suzuki collaboration. The Japanese embraced NK with open arms, conferring on him in 2016 one of their highest honours, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

The 1990s-early 2000s were years of critical economic reforms in India. In the chapters covering this period, we observe NK’s skills in diplomacy, knowledge of economics, and training as a bureaucrat on full display. We learn that but for his clarity of economic thought, and the audacity of Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, simplification of personal income taxation into three low rates of 10%, 20% and 30% in the celebrated ‘dream budget’ would have remained a pipe dream.

The chapter, ‘Vajpayee, As I Knew Him’, is the highlight of the book. It describes in engaging detail how, assisted by an able team, Vajpayee navigated the complex telecom sector reform, saw his signature Golden Quadrilateral road project through, and altered the course of India-US relations by undertaking the nuclear tests early in his term.

NK is a man with inexhaustible energy and drive. After demitting his office as secretary to the PM, he went on to serve as member, Planning Commission; member, Rajya Sabha; chair, Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Committee; and chair, 15th Finance Commission. For nearly two decades, he actively promoted and participated in the annual conference on Indian economic reforms at Stanford University and was a constant presence at Davos.

He is a skilful photographer, has an ear for classical Indian music and practises homoeopathy as a hobby. He is a major presence on Delhi social circuit and the list of his friends is endless.

The autobiography paints a memorable portrait of a successful bureaucrat, economist, politician and author, while treating the reader to a piece of India’s post-Independence political-economic history. Readers can count on being amply rewarded.

The writer is professor, Columbia University, US