John Matthai CIE was an economist who served as India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948.
10 Facts About John Matthai
2.
John Matthai was born on January 10,1886, as the son of Challiyal Thomas Matthai and Anna Thayyil to an Anglican Syrian Christian family.
3.
John Matthai graduated in economics from the University of Madras.
4.
John Matthai served as a Professor and Head in University of Madras from 1922 to 1925.
5.
John Matthai presented two Budgets as India's Finance Minister, but resigned following the 1950 Budget in protest against the increasing power of the Planning Commission and P C Mahalanobis.
6.
John Matthai was the first Chairman of the State Bank of India when it was set up in 1955.
7.
John Matthai was the founding President of the Governing Body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956.
8.
John Matthai served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Mumbai from 1955 till 1957 and then as the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala from 1957 to 1959.
9.
John Matthai's wife, Achamma Matthai was an Indian social worker and a women's rights activist.
10.
John Matthai was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1934, and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1959.