N. K. Singh

N. K. Singh

Singh at the World Economic Forum on India in 2012
Born 27 January 1941
Calcutta, India
Occupation Member of Parliament, Economist, Civil Servant, Lobbyist

Nand Kishore Singh (N. K. Singh) is a politician, economist and former Indian Administrative Service officer. He is a senior Member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since March 2014 [1] after having served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (2008-2014) from Bihar.[2][3] He has been a senior bureaucrat, Member Planning Commission and handled assignments of Union Expenditure and Revenue Secretary and Additional Secretary Economic Affairs connected with International organisations like World Bank, IMF and UNDP.He was also Principal Secretary to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. He is currently on the board of Hindustan Times, ICRIER, IMI, Nalanda University as well as connected with the University of Stanford and the India Advisory Committee of London School of Economics and Columbia University. He is the former Chairman, Board of Governors of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon.

Early life and Career

Born in Kolkata on 27 January 1941, Singh completed his Senior Cambridge Examination at St. Xavier’s College, Patna before he joined St Stephens College, Delhi for pursuing graduation. He did Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (DSE) at a time when well-known economists like Sukhamoy Chakravarty, Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati were on the faculty.

Before beginning his career in civil services, he taught Economics as a regular faculty member at St Stephens College (1963). Later, he joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1964 and was assigned the State of Bihar.

Following that, he has held the following positions:

Tax Reforms

As Revenue Secretary (July 1996 – August 1998), he oversaw the Dream Budget (1997–98), one of the most ambitious tax reforms so far.[4] Tax rates were substantially reduced and personal Income Tax rates were brought down considerably from 15, 30 and 40 per cent to 10, 20 and 30 per cent.[5] Similarly, corporate tax rates were also significantly reduced apart from simplifying and merging the widely varying customs and excise duty structure. Import tariffs were also slashed down to align India’s import duties with other emerging markets. Moreover a Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) was launched in the same year which enabled people to make voluntary disclosures given the benefits of lower tax rates. This enabled not only tax realisation of over $2 billion as hidden wealth of over Rs.33,000 crores or $10 billion being brought back to the economic stream. The VDIS scheme is considered a watershed and many have clamoured for its repetition both for domestic and foreign income.[6][7][8]

Task Force on Telecom

He has also served as the Secretary, Task Force on Telecommunications and played a key role in placing a far-reaching reform on deregulation of India’s Telecommunication sector.[9] [10]During his tenure, another major reform in the telecomm policy was to auction the spectrum bandwidth to the highest bidder. [11][12]

National Highway Development Project

As PMO Secretary and Member Secretary of the Task Force on Infrastructure, N.K. Singh was instrumental in the planning of the 1300O KM National Highways Development Project (NHDP).[13] Comprising the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South and East-West corridors, it was one of the flagship scheme of the Indian Government and NHAI (National Highway Authority of India). [14] [15]

Career as a Member of Parliament

Singh was elected as a Member of Parliament to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar in April 2008 representing the Janata Dal (United). He was a member of several important Parliamentary Committees including the Public Accounts Committee, Committee on Public Undertakings, Committee on External Affairs, Committee on MPLADS, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, Consultative Committee on Finance and the Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change.[16] He joined the BJP in the run-up to the General Elections in 2014 following his close association with the NDA for over a decade.[17][18]

Family

N.K. Singh comes from a well-connected family of bureaucrats and politicians.

Nira Radia Tapes

In 2010, BJP’s Arun Shourie claimed that one of the conversations in the Nira Radia tapes could involve NK Singh.[19] He alleged that the order of the speakers in the Rajya Sabha was changed to give an edge on retroactive tax rebates to Reliance Industries. The tapes allude to Shourie’s replacement by Venkaiah Naidu ahead of the 2009 Budget session in Rajya Sabha. Those claims were dismissed by Vankiah Nadu who rubbished them in the media while Singh and the BJP called it "baseless and ridiculous." [20][21] Singh said his conversation was a “social informal chat” in the wider interest of India's energy which had no bearing on a policy issue.[22]

References

  1. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/elections-2014-mj-akbar-nk-singh-join-bjp_919540.html
  2. ↑ "ECI - Press Note" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Flying with BS: Nitish Kumar
  4. ↑ http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/10-budgets-that-have-impact-on-indias-economy/1/13660.html
  5. ↑ http://forbesindia.com/article/independence-day-special/economic-milestone-chidambarams-dream-budget-(1997)/38459/1
  6. ↑ http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Communications/Circular/Others/910110000000000808/dtc44skp.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.capitalmarket.com/Macro/vdis.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/voluntary-disclosureincome-scheme-a-workable-idea_404496.html
  9. ↑ http://it-taskforce.nic.in/govtnot.htm
  10. ↑ http://www.archive.india.gov.in/govt/rajyasabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=2078
  11. ↑ http://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/telecom-policy-in-2-weeks-nk-singh-198120101008_1.html
  12. ↑ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2002-11-20/news/27350626_1_textile-industry-textile-asset-reconstruction-fund-technology-upgradation-fund
  13. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/2002/01/05/stories/2002010501511100.htm
  14. ↑ http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2000/05/27/stories/1427403s.htm
  15. ↑ http://nk.nksingh.com/DownloadableFiles/Putting%20India%20in%20the%20fast%20lane.pdf
  16. ↑ http://www.archive.india.gov.in/govt/rajyasabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=2078
  17. ↑ http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/nk-singh-quits-nitish-kumar-s-party-will-join-bjp-498327
  18. ↑ http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/former-janata-dal-united-mp-nk-singh-joins-bjp-498821
  19. ↑ "ibnlive.in.com".
  20. ↑ "Venkaiah disputes Shourie's claim on Radia influence on BJP". 30 Nov 2010.
  21. ↑ "Lobbying charge by Arun Shourie stirs row". 29 Nov 2010.
  22. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article922360.ece Reliance advocacy was for national ‘energy security': N.K. Singh November 30, 2010

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