• The second woman to hold full-time charge of both the Defence and Finance Ministries.
• Under Nirmala Sitharaman’s tenure as Finance Minister, India has emerged as the world’s fourth-largest economy.
• Relief for the middle class through the enhancement of the income tax exemption limit to ₹12 lakhs.
• Reduction of corporate tax rates from 30% to 22%.
• Recipient of the “Distinguished Alumni Award” from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2019.
• Provision of loans to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme.
• Initiatives undertaken to establish “Weekly Huts” (Street Food Hubs) in urban areas.
• Featured seven times in Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful women.
• Tamil Nadu is her birthplace; Andhra Pradesh is her marital home.
Renowned economist and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman currently serves as India’s Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs. She has held this portfolio since 2019. Prior to this, she served as the Minister of Defense. Since 2016, she has been serving as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, representing the state of Karnataka. She was born on August 19, 1959, in the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. After completing her studies at Seethalakshmi College, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1980. Subsequently, she completed her postgraduate studies in Economics and Philosophy at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Nirmala Sitharaman joined the BJP in 2008 and served as the party’s spokesperson from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, as part of Narendra Modi’s first cabinet, she served as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. She continued in this position until September 2017. For a brief period between May and November 2014, she also discharged duties as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs. After assuming ministerial office, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh in June 2014. In September 2017, she was appointed as the country’s 28th Defence Minister. Following the Modi government’s return to power for a second term, she was appointed as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs on May 30, 2019. Having served in this capacity for five years, she continues to hold the same portfolio following the formation of the third Modi government in 2024. She made history by becoming the first woman since independence to head both the Defence and Finance ministries. She broke the record previously held by C.D. Deshmukh (1950–56) by becoming the longest-serving Finance Minister in the country to hold the office continuously without any breaks. Furthermore, with the budget presented in Parliament in February 2026, she achieved another milestone by becoming the first Finance Minister to present the budget nine consecutive times. Hailing from a Tamil Iyengar family, her parents were Savitri and Narayanan Sitharaman. Her father worked for the Indian Railways. She completed her schooling at Sacred Heart Convent Anglo-Indian School in Villupuram and at Vidyodaya School in Chennai. She passed her SSLC examinations from St. Philomena School and completed her Higher Secondary education at Holy Cross School in Tiruchirappalli. She pursued her studies at Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirappalli, earning a degree in Economics in 1980. Subsequently, in 1984, she obtained a Master’s degree in Economics and Philosophy from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Although she later registered for a Ph.D. in Economics, she discontinued her studies midway and moved to London. This move was prompted by her husband, Parakala Prabhakar, receiving a scholarship to attend the London School of Economics.
After moving to London, she worked as a salesperson at the Regent Street Decan Store on Regent Street. Subsequently, she worked for a period as an assistant to an economist at the Agricultural Engineers Association, served as a Senior Manager in R&D at PricewaterhouseCoopers for another period, and worked briefly at the BBC World Service. Upon returning to India in 1991, she was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Centre for Public Policy Services in Hyderabad. In 2004, she co-founded a private co-educational school named Pranava. In 2003, she was appointed as a member of the National Commission for Women, a position she held until 2005.
She joined the BJP in 2006 and was appointed as a member of the National Executive Committee in 2008. In 2010, she was appointed as the party’s official spokesperson, a role she continued to fulfil until 2014. Subsequently, having served as the Minister of Defence in the Modi government, she set a record as the second woman—after Indira Gandhi—to hold this portfolio. It was during her tenure as Defence Minister that the Indian Air Force carried out the Balakot airstrikes on February 26, 2019. Following the Modi government’s return to power in the general elections held that same year, the responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance were entrusted to Nirmala Sitharaman. She assumed these duties on May 30, 2019. She created history once again by becoming the second full-time female Finance Minister, following Indira Gandhi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as the in-charge of the “COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force.” Notably, it was during her tenure that India emerged as the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2022, and is projected to become the fourth-largest by 2025. Prior to her assuming the role of Finance Minister, India ranked as the tenth-largest economy globally. As Finance Minister, she reduced the corporate tax rate from 30% to 22%. In contrast, for new companies, this rate is just 15%. Ten nationalized banks were merged and restructured into four robust public sector banks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she bolstered the nation’s economy by announcing the ₹20 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) package. She played a pivotal role in promoting UPI payments and digital financial transactions. Under the “Make in India” initiative, she encouraged the domestic manufacturing of defence equipment. She earned the distinction of being the first female Defence Minister to fly in a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet. She launched a new scheme worth ₹10,000 crore to transform the country into a global manufacturing hub for the pharmaceutical sector. To encourage Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), she established a special fund with an allocation of ₹10,000 crore. She introduced a multilingual AI-based system to provide agricultural informant.
