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Nirmala Sitharaman
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (May 2023) |
Nirmala Sitharaman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Union Finance Minister | |
| Assumed office 30 May 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Union Corporate Affairs Minister | |
| Assumed office 30 May 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Union Defence Minister | |
| In office 3 September 2017 – 30 May 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Succeeded by | Rajnath Singh |
| Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) | |
| In office 26 May 2014 – 3 September 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Anand Sharma |
| Succeeded by | Suresh Prabhu |
| Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs | |
| In office 26 May 2014 – 9 November 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Shripad Naik (Finance) Office established (Corporate Affairs) |
| Succeeded by | Jayant Sinha (Finance) Arjun Ram Meghwal (Corporate Affairs) |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| Assumed office 1 July 2016 | |
| Preceded by | M. Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) |
| Constituency | Karnataka |
| In office 26 June 2014 – 21 June 2016 | |
| Preceded by | N. Janardhana Reddy (INC) |
| Succeeded by | Suresh Prabhu (BJP) |
| Constituency | Andhra Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 August 1959 Madurai, Madras State, India (present-day Tamil Nadu) |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Seethalakshmi 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. Sitaraman presented the union budget 8 times, making her second only to Morarji Desai to present the most number of budgets.[2] 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. [3]
Sitharaman featured in the Forbes 2022 list of World's 100 most powerful women and was ranked 36.[4] In 2023, she was ranked 32nd and in 2024, she was ranked 28th in the Forbes list of World's 100 most powerful women.[5][6] Fortune named her the most powerful woman in India.[7][8] In 2025, she created history by becoming the first person to table the union budget 8 consecutive times.[9]
- ^ "Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman" (PDF). Department of Defence Production. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
- ^ "Budget 2025: Nirmala Sitharaman makes history with eighth consecutive budget". The Economic Times. 1 February 2025. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes.
- ^ "Forbes World's Most Powerful Women - Ranked 2024 List". Forbes.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Union Budget 2025 | Who has presented the most number of Budgets?". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
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