Suresh Prabhu (born 11 July 1953) is an Indian politician and chartered accountant who held several economic portfolios in the Union government. He was Power Minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, when he prepared the reforms that became the Electricity Act of 2003, and Railways Minister and then Commerce and Industry Minister under Narendra Modi. He was also India’s Sherpa to the G20.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu |
| Born | 11 July 1953, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Age | 73 |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party (since 2014); earlier Shiv Sena |
| Offices | Minister of Power (2000–2002); Minister of Railways (2014–2017); Minister of Commerce and Industry (2017–2019) |
| Constituency | Rajapur, Maharashtra (Lok Sabha, 1996–2009) |
| Education | Sharadashram Vidya Mandir; M. L. Dahanukar College; New Law College, Mumbai; chartered accountant |
| Spouse | Uma Prabhu |
| Children | 1 son |
Early Life
Prabhu was born in Mumbai into a family from the Konkan coast. He ranked eleventh in India in the chartered accountancy examination and built a practice in Mumbai. He became chairman of the Saraswat Co-operative Bank, one of the largest urban co-operative banks in the country.
Political Career
Bal Thackeray asked him to stand for the Shiv Sena in 1996, and he won Rajapur in the Konkan four times running. In Atal Bihari Vajpayee‘s governments he was Minister for Industry, for Environment and Forests, for Chemicals and Fertilizers and, from 2000, for Power. He pushed state electricity boards to split up and open their books and drafted the law that opened generation and distribution to competition. He left the ministry in 2002 at his party’s insistence. He then chaired the task force on linking India’s rivers.
On 9 November 2014 he joined the BJP and was sworn in as Railways Minister the same day. He raised investment in tracks and stations, used social media to answer passengers’ complaints directly, and agreed to merge the separate railway budget with the general budget from 2017, ending a practice begun in 1924. After a series of derailments in August 2017 he offered to resign, taking moral responsibility.
He was moved to Commerce and Industry in September 2017 and also took charge of Civil Aviation in 2018. He represented India at the World Trade Organization and promoted a new agricultural export policy.
Later Work
Since leaving office in 2019 he has been chancellor of Rishihood University in Haryana and has worked on climate and sustainability bodies.
Personal Life
His wife, Uma Prabhu, is a journalist. They have a son, Ameya.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Suresh Prabhu born?
Suresh Prabhu was born on 11 July 1953 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and is 73 years old.
Featured image: Suresh Prabhu (left), then Railways Minister and India’s G20 Sherpa, addresses a press conference, Brisbane, Australia, 16 November 2014. Photo by Ministry of Railways, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
