Educated at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), he joined the Indian Civil Service as a chartered accountant at the Indian Railway's account service before being promoted to join the Ministry of Finance under Liaquat Ali Khan in 1946. After the independence of Pakistan as a result of Partition of India in 1947, he joined the Liaquat administration as the country's first Finance Minister where he helped draft the first five-year plans to alleviate the national economy of Pakistan.