Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who as India’s finance minister in 1991 ushered in reforms that liberalised the economy, has been termed by Time magazine as an “underachiever” and criticised for not acting decisively when the economy is slowing.

The magazine features 79-year-old Manmohan Singh on the cover of its Asia edition dated July 16, 2012 with the blurb, “The Underachiever. India needs a reboot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?” The cover story, titled “A Man in Shadow”, says the prime minister appears “unwilling to stick his neck out” on reforms that will put the country back on growth path.