P. V. Narasimha Rao

Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, nationalist, statesman, and politician from the Congress Party who served as the prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first person from South India and second person from a non-Hindi speaking background to be prime minister. He is especially known for introducing various measures to open up India's economy to rescue the country from going towards bankruptcy during the economic crisis of 1991 to make public sector and private sector competitive. Future prime ministers continued the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government.

Prior to his premiership, he served as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and later also held high order portfolios of the union government, such as Defence, Home Affairs and External Affairs. In 1991 Indian general election, the Indian National Congress led by him won 244 seats and thereafter he along with external support from other parties formed a minority government with him being the prime minister. As prime minister, Rao adopted to avert the impending 1991 economic crisis, the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States, and China. He energised the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles programme.

In 2024, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award by the Government of India. Provided by Wikipedia