Even before the final word on his coronation was out, PV Narasimha Rao had approached the famous economist and former governor of the RBI, IG Patel, to join his team. Patel, ever the pragmatist, had begged off and suggested another career bureaucrat, Manmohan Singh, as a possible choice. Rao’s need was for someone who was an acceptable face to the IMF and the World Bank, who knew the economy and understood the web of levers that controlled political decision-making. Singh qualified on all counts.