C. D. Deshmukh

What links here Related changes Page information
Created by CarmineJansen
Last edited February 27, 2026


C. D. Deshmukh


Deshmukh at Palam Airport in 1952

Office 10th Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi
Office Chairman of University Grants Commission


Office 4th Minister of Finance
Office Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha



Predecessor N.K. Sidhant
Successor B.N. Ganguly
Predecessor Pt. H.N. Kunzru
Successor Dr. V.S. Krishna



Born 1896-01-14
Born Nate, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died Template:Death date and age
Place of death Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), India
Nationality British Indian Template:Small
Indian Template:Small



Spouse Template:Plainlist
Children 1 (daughter)
Alma mater University of Cambridge



Sir Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh Template:Post-nominals Template:Small (14 January 1896 – 2 October 1982) was an Indian civil servant and the first Indian[1] to be appointed the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1943 by the British Raj authorities. He subsequently served as the Finance Minister in the Union Cabinet (1950–1956). It was during this time that he also became a founding member of the Governing Body of NCAER, the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956 at the behest of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. After resignation from Union Cabinet he worked as Chairman of UGC (1956–1961). He served as Vice-Chancellor of University of Delhi (1962–67). He was also President of Indian Statistical Institute from 1945 to 1964, Honorary Chairman of National Book Trust (1957–60).

He founded India International Center in 1959 and served as Lifetime President of it. He was also chairman of Indian Institute of Public Administration.Template:Fact

Early life and education

Chintaman Deshmukh was born to Dwarakanath Raje-Deshmukh, a lawyer and Bhagirathibai Raje-Deshmukh (née Sule-Mahagaonkar family) on 14 January 1896 in Nategaon, near Fort Raigad, Maharashtra in a Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) family.[2][3][4] He was schooled at Roha and Tala and at the Elphinstone High School, Bombay.[5] In 1912, Deshmukh passed the Matriculation Examination of the University of Bombay with record marks and secured the first Jagannath Shankarseth Scholarship in Sanskrit.[6] In 1915 he went to England and graduated with a degree in Natural Sciences Tripos from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1917. He was awarded the Frank Smart Prize in Botany and was also president of the Majlis Society. In 1918 he sat for, and stood first in the Indian Civil Service Examination, then held only in London.[7][8]

Civil service career

Deshmukh returned to India in 1920 and worked in the Central Provinces and Berar where he went on to hold several posts including as undersecretary to the government, Deputy Commissioner and Settlement Officer and as secretary to the Secretary-General at the Second Round Table Conference of 1931, later becoming secretary to the finance and public works department.[9][10] He also served briefly as Joint Secretary to Government of India in the departments of education and health and was Custodian of Enemy Property.[11]

At the Reserve Bank of India

Deshmukh joined the Reserve Bank of India in 1939 and served successively as its Secretary to the Board, Deputy Governor and the Governor.[12] He was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in August 1943 and is one of the eight Deputy Governors of the Bank who have gone on to become its Governor.[13][14] As Governor, Deshmukh helped establish the Industrial Finance Corporation and focused on the promotion of rural credit.[15] Deshmukh's tenure saw the RBI begin a Research and Statistics department, the demonetisation of bank notes of Template:INR 500 and above, the ceasing of the RBI's role as the central banks of Burma and State Bank of Pakistan and the enactment of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 that laid down the framework for regulation of India's banking sector.[16] The RBI was nationalised on 1 January 1949 through the RBI Act, 1948.[17] Deshmukh opposed this proposal for nationalisation but agreed to continue as the chairman of the board of directors presiding over the transition of the bank from a private to a nationalised institution.[18][19][20] In July 1949 Benegal Rama Rau succeeded Deshmukh as the Governor of the RBI.[16]

Bretton Woods Conference

Deshmukh was a member of a five-member delegation representing India at the Bretton Woods Conference that established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).[21] On the issue of quotas, Deshmukh suggested that India walk out of the conference since the original hierarchy would have excluded India from being automatically represented through an executive director at the IMF.[22] The delegation also succeeded in bringing the issues of poverty and development into the agenda of the IBRD.[23] It is said that John Maynard Keynes was so impressed by the "dignity, ability and reasonableness" of Deshmukh that he recommended Deshmukh head the IMF as its first managing director a suggestion that was however rejected by the United States.[24][23][25][26]

He was a member of the Board of Governors of both of these institutions from 1946 to 1956. In 1950, he was elected Chairman of the Joint Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of these institutions at its Paris Conference.[27]

Deshmukh Award

Following Partition, the division of income tax revenue and jute export duty between the Union government and the states of India had to be decided based on the changed geographical realities. The Government of India appointed Deshmukh to resolve this matter pending the establishment of a Finance Commission. The Deshmukh Award, which was effected in 1950, factored in population in deciding the division of revenue and recommended grants in aid for various states and remained in force until April 1952.[28][29][30][31]

Union Finance Minister

Deshmukh was one of five members of the Planning Commission when it was constituted in 1950 by a cabinet resolution.[32][33] Deshmukh succeeded John Mathai as the Union Finance Minister in 1950 after Mathai resigned in protest over the transfer of certain powers to the Planning Commission.[34] As Finance Minister, Deshmukh continued to remain a member of the Planning Commission.[35] His successors as Finance Minister were also made members of the Commission thus establishing a convention of the Finance Minister being an ex officio member of the Commission.[32] Deshmukh's term as Finance Minister covered the period of the First Five Year Plan. He employed deficit financing as a key tool in bringing about planned investment but inflation and revenue deficits became major challenges during this period.[36] Deshmukh was also chairman of a panel of economists that recommended the proposed Second Five Year Plan with its capital intensive model of development. He envisioned a significant role for the village and cottage industries in curbing unemployment and inflation caused by deficit financing and got the Congress Working Committee to approve the draft plan.[37][38][39]

Deshmukh's first budget of 1951-52 proposed an overall rise in taxes.[40] The following year he presented an interim budget for 1952-53 and a full budget in the first elected Parliament of India to which he was elected from the Kolaba constituency of Bombay State.[41][42][43] In 1952 Deshmukh invited Paul Appleby to study Indian administration and Appleby's reports led to the establishment of the Organisation and Management Organisation in the Government of India and the establishment of the Indian Institute of Public Administration of which Deshmukh later became vice president and chairman.[44][45] In 1955, the State Bank of India was formed through the nationalisation and amalgamation of the Imperial Bank with several smaller banks. This was undertaken on the recommendation of the All-India Rural Credit Survey Committee although Deshmukh had been opposed to plans for nationalising the bank when he was the RBI Governor.[46][47] The nationalisation of insurance companies and the formation of the Life Insurance Corporation of India was accomplished by him through the Life Insurance Corporation of India Act, 1956.[48][49] He resigned over the proposal of the Government of India to move a bill in Parliament bifurcating Bombay State into Gujarat and Maharashtra while designating the City of Bombay a Union Territory.[50][51] Deshmukh's tenure - during which he delivered six budgets and an interim budget[52] - is noted for the effective management of the Indian economy and its steady growth which saw the economy recover from the impacts of the events of the 1940s.[53][54]

Later career

Shortly after his resignation from the Cabinet, Deshmukh was appointed Chairman of India's University Grants Commission in 1956, a post he held until 1961.[55][56][57] Deshmukh, who was the first chairman of the commission after it became a statutory body, played a key role in the development of university libraries during his tenure.[58][59] He was also the founding chairman of the National Book Trust which was inaugurated in 1957 with the aim of making available books priced moderately to the general public and libraries.[60] From 1962 - 1967, Deshmukh served as the tenth Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi. He invited the Ford Foundation to survey and finance the upgradation of the Delhi University Library through a grant of Template:USD 1 million.[61]

Deshmukh contested the Indian presidential election of 1969 as a candidate of the Swatantra Party and the Jana Sangh and won the third-highest number of first preference votes.[62][63][64][65]

Personal life

Deshmukh married Rosina Arthur Wilcox in 1920 with whom he had a daughter, Primrose.[11] After Rosina's death in 1949, Deshmukh married Durgabai in 1953 and they were married until her death in 1981. Chintaman and I is her memoir published in 1980.[66]

In 1974, he published his autobiography The Course of My Life.[67]

Deshmukh died in Hyderabad on 2 October 1982.[68]

Awards

Deshmukh on a 2004 stamp of India

Deshmukh was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1937, and conferred a knighthood in 1944.[69][70]

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Calcutta in 1957 and an honorary Doctor of Literature by the Panjab University in 1959.[71][72]

In 1959, Deshmukh was a co-recipient (along with Jose Aguilar of the Philippines[73]) of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for distinguished Government Service. Jesus College, Cambridge, Deshmukh's alma mater, elected him its Honorary Fellow in 1952 in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the areas of Indian and international finance and administration.

In 1975, Sir Chintaman and Durgabai Deshmukh were awarded the Padma Vibhushan.[74]

Legacy

The Reserve Bank of India organises the annual lecture series called 'Chintaman Deshmukh Memorial Lectures', since 1984.[75] The National Council of Applied Economic Research also conducts the annual C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture since 2013.[76][77][78]

The Thane Municipal Corporation established the Chintamanrao Deshmukh Institute for Administrative Careers in 1987, to prepare the youth to enter the civil services.[79] A road in the Tilakwadi area of the city of Belgaum has been named as 'C. D. Deshmukh Road'. The India International Centre in New Delhi has an auditorium named after Deshmukh.[80][81]

In 2004, a commemorative postage stamp was released in his honour.[82]

The National Insurance Academy organises the annual seminar called "CD Deshmukh Memorial Seminar" since the last 22 years.

References

  1. ↑ Chintaman Deshmukh Memorial Lectures. Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 8 December 2006.
  2. ↑ South Asian intellectuals and social change: a study of the role of vernacular-speaking intelligentsia{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. the University of Michigan(1981)
  3. ↑ Religions and Communities of India{{#if:P.N. Chopra|, P.N. Chopra}. Orient Paperbacks, India(1998-01-01). ISBN 978-81-7094-296-2
  4. ↑ Great Administrators Of India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Kalpaz Publications(2009). ISBN 9788178357294
  5. ↑ Barons of Banking{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Random House India(2013). ISBN 9788184004762
  6. ↑ The Cloister's Pale: A Biography of the University of Mumbai{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Popular Prakashan(2006). ISBN 9788179912935
  7. ↑ Nationalism, Education and Migrant Identities: The England-returned{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2010). ISBN 9781135271138
  8. ↑ Chintaman Deshmukh Memorial Lectures. Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  9. ↑ TREASURY CODE VOL- II. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  10. ↑ Central Provinces & Berar Gazette. Central Provinces & Berar Gazette({Template:Date).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Deshmukh, Chintaman. Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation(August 1959). Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  12. ↑ Essays on Econometrics and Planning{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Elsevier(2014). ISBN 9781483225616
  13. ↑ The Cambridge Economic History of India: Volume 2, C.1751-c.1970{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Cambridge University Press(1983). ISBN 9780521228022
  14. ↑ Money, Banking, and Economic Reforms{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Deep & Deep Publications(2002). ISBN 9788176293907
  15. ↑ Forgotten Foundations of Bretton Woods: International Development and the ...{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Cornell University Press(2014). ISBN 9780801470608
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Indian Financial System & Markets{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Tata McGraw Hill(2013). ISBN 9781259051159
  17. ↑ Credit Risk Management for Indian Banks{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE(2013). ISBN 9788132116516
  18. ↑ The Domestic Abroad: Diasporas in International Relations{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2010). ISBN 9780199889877
  19. ↑ Bank Management{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Discovery Publishing House(1999). ISBN 9788171415106
  20. ↑ Financial Terms Simplified{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE(2013). ISBN 9788132117797
  21. ↑ A page from history: 70 years before the Brics bank. Live Mint(23 July 2014). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  22. ↑ Wartime Origins and the Future United Nations{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2015). ISBN 9781134668731
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 How India shaped international monetary policy at Bretton Woods. Live Mint(11 July 2016). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  24. ↑ Indian Economy: Reviews And Commentaries - Volume 3{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. ICFAI University Press(2005). ISBN 9788178815732
  25. ↑ That job at the IMF. Live Mint(24 May 2011). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  26. ↑ World Bank or elite club?. Live Mint(22 May 2007). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  27. ↑ THE BALANCE BETWEEN MONETARY POLICY AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS OF ECONOMIC POLICY IN A MODERN SOCIETY{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Per Jacobsson Foundation(1965)
  28. ↑ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Economics, Volume 1{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Mittal Publications(1985)
  29. ↑ Economic History of India: 1857-1956{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Allied Publishers(2002)
  30. ↑ Financial Administration in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. PHI Learning(2014). ISBN 9788120349360
  31. ↑ Public Finance, Volume 2{{#if:Chand|, Chand}. Atlantic Publishers(2008). ISBN 9788126908820
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Vision and Strategy in Indian Politics: Jawaharlal Nehru's Policy Choices and the Designing of Political Institutions{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2012). ISBN 9781136627873
  33. ↑ Development Administration{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. PHI Learning(2012). ISBN 9788120345829
  34. ↑ Once upon a plan. The Indian Express(26 September 2014). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  35. ↑ Reference Material 2010 Notes on the Functioning of Various Divisions. Planning Commission of India(2010). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  36. ↑ Economic Environment of India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Northern Book Centre(1 January 2007). ISBN 978-81-7211-227-1
  37. ↑ Wage Goods Approach to Development{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Deep & Deep(1 January 2001). ISBN 978-81-7629-269-6
  38. ↑ The Congress Party of India: The Dynamics of a One-Party Democracy{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Princeton University Press(8 December 2015). ISBN 978-1-4008-7576-4
  39. ↑ Indian Economic Planning: Analysis and Relevance of Economic Ideas of Dr. D.R. Gadgil{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Deep & Deep Publications(1 January 2007). ISBN 978-81-7629-925-1
  40. ↑ Speech of Shri C.D. Deshmukh, Minister of Finance Introducing the Budget for the Year 1951-52. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  41. ↑ Template:Cite press release
  42. ↑ Speech of Shri C.D. Deshmukh, Minister of Finance Introducing the Budget for the Year 1952-53 (Final). Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  43. ↑ Statistical Report on General Elections, 1951 to the First Lok Sabha Volume I{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Election Commission of India
  44. ↑ Indian Administration 2 Vols. Set{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Atlantic Publishers(2001). ISBN 9788171569212
  45. ↑ Indian Institute of Public Administration NEW DELHI. Indian Institute of Public Administration. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  46. ↑ dated December 21, 1954: State Bank of India. The Hindu(21 December 2004). Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  47. ↑ Tracing history of the SBI. The Tribune(20 April 2003). Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  48. ↑ India: The Emerging Giant{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2008). ISBN 9780199890149
  49. ↑ Insurance in India: Changing Policies and Emerging Opportunities{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Response Books(2003). ISBN 9780761997474
  50. ↑ Dr. Zakir Hussain, Quest for Truth{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. APH Publishing(1999). ISBN 9788176480567
  51. ↑ The anxiety that lingers. Live Mint(7 December 2012). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  52. ↑ India: Central Government Budgets - 1947-48 to 2003-04. New Century Publications(2003). Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  53. ↑ North Block Mavericks. Business Standard(1 March 1997). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  54. ↑ The Politics of Poverty: Planning India's Development{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE Publications(2012). ISBN 9788132109020
  55. ↑ List of Former Chairpersons. University Grants Commission. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  56. ↑ Higher Education in India Since Independence: UGC and Its Approach{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Concept Publishing Company(1993). ISBN 9788170224471
  57. ↑ Encyclopaedia of New Media and Educational Planning{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Sarup & Sons(1 January 2000). ISBN 978-81-7625-170-9
  58. ↑ Development of University Libraries in India After Independence{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Concept Publishing Company(1992). ISBN 9788170224099
  59. ↑ Fifty Years of Higher Education in India: The Role of the University Grants Commission{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE Publications(2004). ISBN 9780761932161
  60. ↑ dated August 3, 1957: National Book Trust. The Hindu(3 August 2007). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  61. ↑ Libraries and Information Studies in Retrospect and Prospect: Volume 2{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Concept Publishers(2002). ISBN 9788170229308
  62. ↑ Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Abhinav Publications(1981). ISBN 9788170171409
  63. ↑ Constitutional Government in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. S Chand & Co.(2012). ISBN 9788121922036
  64. ↑ PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FROM 1952 TO 1997 BRIEF NOTES. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  65. ↑ India Since Independence{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Penguin Books(2008). ISBN 9780143104094
  66. ↑ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: Volume 2{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2008). ISBN 9780195148909
  67. ↑ Course Of My Life, The- Centenary Edn.{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Orient Blackswan(1996). ISBN 978-81-250-0824-8
  68. ↑ Barons of Banking{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Random Business(2013). ISBN 9788184003499
  69. ↑ To be Companions of the said Most Eminent Order. Supplement to the London Gazette({Template:Date).
  70. ↑ Whitehall, March 21, 1944. The London Gazette({Template:Date).
  71. ↑ Honoris Causa Template:Webarchive
  72. ↑ Record of Honoris Causa Degrees w.e.f. 1949. Panjab University. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  73. ↑ The Ramon Magsaysay Awardees by Name. The Ramon Magsaysay Foundation. Retrieved 8 December 2006.
  74. ↑ Padma Awards Directory (1954-2014) Year-Wise List. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  75. ↑ Reserve Bank of India - Publications. Rbi.org.in. Retrieved on 15 November 2018.
  76. ↑ The Inaugural C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture 2013. Ncaer.org (4 January 2013). Retrieved on 2018-11-15.
  77. ↑ The C D Deshmukh Memorial Lecture 2014. Ncaer.org (11 February 2014). Retrieved on 2018-11-15.
  78. ↑ The Third C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture 2015. Ncaer.org (9 February 2015). Retrieved on 2018-11-15.
  79. ↑ C D Deshmukh's Institute. Cdinstitute.in (14 August 2018). Retrieved on 2018-11-15.
  80. ↑ IIC| India International Centre - Introduction. Iicdelhi.nic.in (26 October 2018). Retrieved on 2018-11-15.
  81. ↑ IIC| India International Centre - C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium. Iicdelhi.nic.in (5 October 2017). Retrieved on 2018-11-15.
  82. ↑ Commemorative postage stamp on C.D. Deshmukh. Press Information Bureau, Government of India(13 January 2004). Retrieved 5 July 2016.

Template:Governors of Reserve Bank of India Template:Finance Ministers of India Template:Ministry of Finance (India) Template:Padma Vibhushan Awards Template:Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners Template:RMA winners of India Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=C._D._Deshmukh&oldid=458444"
Discover more