On july 24th 1991 Manmohan Singh, then India's finance minister, presented a budget to India's parliament that would change his country and the world. It was an unlikely triumph wrested from a moment of national humiliation. Thanks to political turmoil, high oil prices and fiscal profligacy, India was left with barely enough foreign exchange to last a fortnight. Like an indigent household pawning the family jewels, its central bank was forced to airlift 47 tonnes of gold to the Bank of England as collateral for a loan, while it waited for more help from the imf.
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