Even by the standards of usually vibrant political debate in India, 2010 has been a particularly turbulent year for the government of prime minister Manmohan Singh, faced with a series of corruption scandals and the 11th-hour preparations for the Commonwealth Games. None of this seems to have distracted veteran finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who first served in this role in 1982, from bringing greater coherence and discipline to India's fiscal policy.
Consistently strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth has done little to stem rising budget deficits and high public debt, while the efficacy of government spending and investment and the efficiency of the large state-owned enterprise sector continue to be called into question. The task ahead is still substantial but, over the past year, Mr Mukherjee has made significant inroads.
