Dr Manmohan Singh first embossed himself on the national consciousness when as India's finance minister he flagged off economic reforms which changed this nation forever.
Glimpses of Dr Singh during his tenure as finance minister, from our archives.
IMAGE: Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on his way to Parliament to present the Budget.
IMAGE: Dr Singh gives final touches to the Budget at his office in New Delhi.
IMAGE: Dr Singh at pre Budget discussions with representatives of consumer forums in New Delhi.
IMAGE: A reception in Dr Singh's honour at the World Bank building in Washington, DC.
IMAGE: Dr Singh works on the Budget on the eve of its presentation in Parliament.
IMAGE: After he was criticised by the JPC probing the stock scam, Dr Singh submitted his resignation, which then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao promptly turned down.
IMAGE: Dr Singh addresses the Confederation of Indian Industry on How To Get India Further, Faster.
IMAGE: Dr Singh addresses the Economic Editors Conference 1995 in New Delhi.
IMAGE: Then finance secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia along with finance ministry officials remove the special chair for Dr Singh after the finance minister refused to occupy a different kind of chair than what others were provided with during a pre Budget meeting with economists.
IMAGE: Dr Singh arrives in Parliament for the Budget session in 1993.
IMAGE: Dr Singh alights at Parliament house carrying the leather briefcase containing the Budget papers.
IMAGE: Dr Singh gives final touches to the 1995-1996 Budget.
IMAGE: Dr Singh tweaks his final Budget, February 29, 1996.
IMAGE: Padraic Fallon, chairman of the Euromoney publications group, presents the Finance Minister Of The Year Award to Dr Singh.
IMAGE: Dr Singh with former US secretary of state Dr Henry Kissinger, left, and Congress politician Murli Deora.
IMAGE: Karen Chambers, publisher of Asiamoney magazine, presents Dr Singh the Asia's Finance Minister Of The Year award.
IMAGE: Dr Singh delivers the opening address on India's Economic Reforms Programme: Maintaining the momentum of change and the fiscal deficit at the Financial Times conference on India's economic renaissance in New Delhi.
IMAGE: Dr Singh denies that 'India is allergic to small and medium investors' at a media interaction in Washington, DC.
At right is Nirupama Rao, then minister (press) at the Indian embassy in DC, later foreign secretary and India's ambassador to the US.
IMAGE: India's then ambassador Siddhartha Shankar Ray takes notes as Dr Singh speaks.
IMAGE: Dr Singh with then US treasury secretary Lloyd Bentsen.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Mahipal Soni/Rediff.com