Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Montek Singh Ahluwalia (born 24 November 1945) is an Indian economist and civil servant. He is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic of India. He was previously the first Director of the Independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He studied at St. Patrick's High School, Secunderabad, Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, and Bishop Cotton School Shimla, then graduated with a B.A. (Hons) degree from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, University of Delhi. He received the BA (Hons) degree as a Rhodes scholar from the University of Oxford having studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. He also studied for a BPhil in Economics at Oxford University, which the university later reclassified as an MPhil. While at Oxford, he was the president of the prestigious Oxford Union. The 164-year-old Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, conferred him with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) at the 11th Convocation Ceremony of the institute held on 12 November 2011.

Ahuluwalia, after graduating from University of Oxford, joined the World Bank during the tenures of Hollis Chenery and Robert MacNamara. At the age of 28, he became the youngest "Division Chief" in the World Bank's bureaucracy.

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.

In spite of not being a member of the Indian Civil Service, he held the following positions of civil servants in the central government:

• Secretary, Ministry of Finance
• Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs
• Secretary, Ministry of Commerce
• Special Secretary to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and
• Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance.

He has also been the member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.

Awards and honours

Year of Award or Honor	Name of Award or Honor	Awarding Organization
2011	Honoris Causa Doctorate of Science	IIT Roorkee.
2011	Padma Vibhushan	President of India.
2008	Doctor of Civil Law	University of Oxford.