Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu (born 11 July 1953) is an Indian politician and India’s Sherpa to the G20. He was formerly the Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation in the First Modi ministry.
He is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Since 1996, Prabhu has been repeatedly elected as a Member of Parliament from Rajapur Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra as a member of the Shiv Sena (SS) political party. He quit Shiv Sena and joined the BJP on 9 November 2014. He currently represents Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.
Suresh Prabhu completed his schooling from Sharadashram Vidya Mandir, Dadar, Mumbai, followed by a Bachelor in Commerce with Honours from M. L. Dahanukar College, Vile Parle, Mumbai. He received a Bachelor in Law degree from the New Law College (Ruparel College campus), Mumbai. Prabhu is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He was All India 11th (eleventh) rank holder in CA exam.
Prabhu has held several government and semi government positions, which includes the Chairmanship of Maharashtra State Finance Commission, Saraswat Co-operative Bank, Member of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Board, among others. He is a part of 16 global organizations and 9 strategic dialogues which include:
- Global Water Partnership
- GLOBE, UK
- World Economic Forum (WEF)
- Global Industries Council
- UN Advisor
- United Nations Development Program
- United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
- Global Forum For Farmers, President
- Strategic Dialogues
- Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service
- Skolkovo Foundation
- Asia Energy Forum
- United Nations Committee of Biodiversity
- World Federation of UNESCO
- He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of India’s International Movement to Unite Nations IIMUN.
Political career
He was, at various times during the Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1998 to 2004, Industry Minister, Minister of Environment and Forests, Minister of Fertilizers & Chemicals, Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.
Union Power Minister
As the Union Minister for Power, he won praise for his performance. As Minister of Power, Prabhu introduced major reforms in India’s power sector. He is credited with championing and enacting The Electricity Act, 2003 and the reforms that created securitization of dues from the states. He has been elected four times to the Lok Sabha, India’s parliament, from Maharashtra since 1996. However, he lost his seat in the 2009 general election.[citation needed]
He was also Chairman of the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers with a status and rank of Union Cabinet Minister.[3] He was elected a member of the World Bank parliamentary network and chaired the South Asia Water regional group of the World Bank. Asia week rated him as one of three future leaders of India.
As a mark of protest against the cancellation of Narendra Modi’s keynote address at the Wharton India Economic Forum 2013, he called off his own visit to the University. The NDA government under the leadership of Narendra Modi appointed him first as the head of a high-level panel on power revamp — “Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy” in July 2014. In August 2014, he was appointed PM Modi’s Sherpa.
Union Railway Minister
Prabhu taking charge as the Union Minister for Railways, in New Delhi on 10 November 2014
On 9 November 2014, he was sworn-in as Cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government. He was the Union Railway Minister of India from November 2014 to September 2017.[13][14] He offered his resignation from this position after a disastrous week in which 3 major accidents occurred, with over 300 total casualties. However, PM Modi refused to accept it, instead transferring him to Civil Aviation.
Union Commerce & Industry Minister
Prabhu taking charge as the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, in New Delhi on 4 September 2017
He has been the minister of Commerce and Industry since September 2017. He was elected as Rajya Sabha member from the state of Andhra Pradesh on 3 June 2016.
Union Civil Aviation Minister
He took the charge as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation on 10 March 2018 in the Narendra Modi government after the Telugu Desam Party withdrew support to the government.
Personal life
He is married to Uma Prabhu who is a journalist by profession; they have a son, Ameya Prabhu.
Suresh Prabhu currently resides in Delhi and is a native of Medha – Malvan (District – Sindhudurg) Maharashtra.
Awards and recognition
Suresh Prabhu received the Goud Saraswat Brahmin Samaj Maharatha Award on 18 August 2016.
He has constantly featured in the list of top five ministers in India from 2014 to 2017 in terms of both performance and accessibility in nation-wide surveys conducted by various institutions.
Awarded ‘Indian of the Year 2017
- Declared “Best Member of Parliament in 13th Lok Sabha” in April 2004 by Aaj Tak, a leading TV Channel in India.
- Featured amongst top three Indian leaders of the future in the cover story, “Giant on the Move” (Sept 2000 issue) of the
- Hong Kong based Asiaweek Magazine.
- Ranked as the 2nd best performing Minister in India Today’s report (dated 27 August 2001) on the performance of key Ministers Of Govt. of India.
Published works[edit]
- “Students’ Unrest” at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Mumbai.
- “Causes and Consequences of Mass Unemployment of Youths” at the Central Committee for International Voluntary Services (CCIVS), UNESCO, Paris.
- “Problems of Youth in Third World Countries” at CCIVS, Monrovia (Liberia).
- “North-South Co-operation”,paper read at an international seminar at New Delhi on behalf of Bharat Sevak Samaj.
- “Contribution of NGO’s Towards Peace” – Asian Youth Seminar, New Delhi.
Has published several columns on finance and economy in the daily “Mid Day” as well as articles in leading Marathi dailies.
He has written extensively on socio-economic issues.
- Social Work and interests
- Former Chairman, Saraswat Co-operation Bank. (former Chairman).
- Former Director, National Co-operative Union of India.
- Chairman, Manav Sadhan Vikas Sansthan, an NGO.
- Former Chairman, Konkan Kala academy.
- Former Trustee, Mumbai Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya
- Former Chairman, Adult Education Institute.
- Former Chairman, Maharastra State Table Tennis Academy
- Trustee, Khar Residents Association.
- Former Trustee, Manavendra Charitable hospital.
- Former Trustee, IFFCO Foundation.
- Senior Vice-President, Table Tennis Federation of India (present).
- Advisory Board Member, Eco Needs Foundation and its Eco Revolution movement.
