Dr Abid Hussain is a noted economist and a diplomat. He served as India’s ambassador to the United States of America during 1990-1992. He was a Member of India’s Planning Commission from 1985 to 1990. He also served as Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Heavy Industry as a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Dr Hussain was honoured in 1988 with the Padma Bhushan (awarded to recognize distinguished service of a high order to the nation) and has been at the forefront of India’s economic and trade reforms since the 1980s. He chaired six important committees set up by the Government of India covering Trade Policy Reforms; Project Exports; CSIR Review Committee for Development of Science and Technology; Textile Policy of the Government of India; Development of Capital Market; and Small Scale Industry. Of these, the Abid Hussain Committee Report on Trade Policy Reform and the Abid Hussain Committee Report on Small Scale Industries have been regarded as milestones in India’s economic reforms.

Dr Hussain is married to Trilok Karki, author of “Sino-Indian Confl ict and International Politics in the Indian Sub-Continent”, (1977) and has three children. Dr Hussain grew up in Hyderabad, his hometown in Andhra Pradesh, and enjoyed a combination of pleasant humour and serious debating.

He is associated with several regional educational, scientific and cultural organizations within India and abroad being widely acclaimed and acceptable in resolving any complicated issue with a finesse.