'The Financial Times' group magazine applauded him for his determined pursuit of reforms, but said it is not just that which earned him the award.

The ruling coalition in India, an unwieldy alliance between the Congress Party and a constellation of communist and Left-leaning parties, keeps his reformist designs firmly in check, Banker said.

Privatisation and labour reforms have already been thwarted, limits on FDI are popular, the magazine said, adding that in many ways, Chidambaram is acknowledged not so much for fresh reform momentum but more for holding on to past progress.

"But that understates the minister of finance's ongoing efforts to liberalise investment laws, cut bureaucracy and improve the business environment," the magazine said.

"As if his campaign for reform was not a full-time preoccupation, his plate is already full reining in the country's ominous fiscal deficit, which is likely to end the fiscal year on target at 4.5 percent of GDP," the magazine said in its January issue.

Given the coalition government's left-leaning outlook, limiting scope for any cuts to social welfare spending, Chidambaram is to be applauded for tightening controls on spending under the circumstances, promising to close the deficit in five years, the magazine said.