Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Minister of Finance
Assumed office
30 May 2019
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byArun Jaitley
Union Minister of Corporate Affairs
Assumed office
30 May 2019
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byArun Jaitley
Union Minister of Defence
In office
3 September 2017 – 30 May 2019
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byArun Jaitley
Succeeded byRajnath Singh
Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge)
In office
26 May 2014 – 3 September 2017
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byAnand Sharma
Succeeded bySuresh Prabhu
Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs
In office
26 May 2014 – 9 November 2014
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byShripad Naik (Finance)
Office established (Corporate Affairs)
Succeeded byJayant Sinha (Finance)
Arjun Ram Meghwal (Corporate Affairs)
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Assumed office
1 July 2016
Preceded byM. Venkaiah Naidu (BJP)
ConstituencyKarnataka
In office
26 June 2014 – 21 June 2016
Preceded byN. Janardhana Reddy (INC)
Succeeded bySuresh Prabhu (BJP)
Constituency Andhra Pradesh
Personal details
Born (1959-08-18) 18 August 1959 (age 65)
Madurai, Madras State, India (present-day Tamil Nadu)
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse
(m. 1986)
Children1
Alma materSeethalakshmi Ramaswami College (BA)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (MA, MPhil)

Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959)[1] is an Indian economist, politician and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) serving as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India since 2019. She is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, representing Karnataka since 2016 and previously represented Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2016. Sitharaman previously served as the 28th Defence Minister from 2017 to 2019, thereby becoming India's second female defence minister and the second female finance minister after Indira Gandhi, and the first full-time female minister to hold each of those portfolios. She served as junior minister in the Modi ministry between 2014 and 2017, holding successive positions, first for her dual appointment as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs from May to November 2014, and then as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry from May 2014 to September 2017, before being elevated to senior posts within the Union Cabinet. [2]

Sitharaman featured in the Forbes 2022 list of World's 100 most powerful women and was ranked 36.[3] In 2023, she was ranked 32nd in the Forbes 2023 list of World's 100 most powerful women.[4] Fortune named her the most powerful woman in India.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman" (PDF). Department of Defence Production. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Deccan Chronicle: BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman gets NJR Rajya Sabha seat". 4 June 2014. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  3. ^ "Nirmala Sitharaman among 6 Indians on Forbes list of world's most powerful women". Hindustan Times. 7 December 2022. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  4. ^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes.
  5. ^ "India's Most Powerful Business Women in 2021 - Fortune India". www.fortuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  6. ^ Moulik Jain (2 February 2024). "India's MSME Sector: A New Dawn With Budget 2024'S Transformative Measures". CaptainBiz. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.