Subrahmanya Bhoothalingam

Subrahmanya Bhoothalingam OBE (22 February 1909 - 28 November 1990) he joined the Indian Civil Service in October 1931. Beginning his career in the then Madras Presidency of British India as an assistant collector and magistrate, he was successively promoted to sub-collector and joint magistrate in May 1933 and to special assistant settlement officer in November 1934. Sent on deputation to Britain in early 1945, he was promoted to joint secretary in October 1946.

Following the independence of India in August 1947 and the dissolution of the ICS, Bhoothalingam transferred to the new Indian Administrative Service (IAS). In June 1952, he was promoted to Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and was appointed Secretary in the Ministry of Iron and Steel in July 1955, a post he occupied through 1960. He retired as Finance Secretary of India in 1966.

After retiring from government service, Bhoothalingam headed several government commissions on taxation and finance, and served on the boards of various Indian and multinational firms, including Glaxo India and American Express. He later served as Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), an economic think-tank in New Delhi, for seven years. Bhoothalingam died in Hyderabad in 1990, aged 81.

Personal life Bhoothalingam was married to Mathuram "Krithika" (1915–2009), a noted Tamil novelist and playwright. The couple had a daughter, Mina Swaminathan, who married the distinguished agricultural geneticist M. S. Swaminathan, and had three children. Among Bhoothalingam's grandchildren is the distinguished paediatrician Soumya Swaminathan.

A linguist and Francophile who was fluent in French, and also knew Russian, Bhoothalingam served as President of the Alliance Francaise of New Delhi for many years. He was decorated with the Legion of Honour by the French government in 1983.