Nirmala Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist and politician serving as the 28th Minister of Finance and 33rd Minister of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India since 2019. She has been a member of the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house, since 2016, representing Karnataka. She formerly represented Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2016. Sitharaman previously served as India’s 28th Defence Minister from 2017 to 2019, becoming the country’s second female defence minister and second female finance minister after Indira Gandhi, as well as the first full-time female minister to occupy both positions. Between 2014 and 2017.
she served as a junior minister in the Modi government, first as the 10th Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the 1st Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs from May to November 2014, and then as the 6th Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry from May 2014 to September 2017, before being promoted to senior positions within the Union. She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2006 and ascended through the ranks to become the party’s national spokesman in 2010, a position she held until her election to parliament. Sitharaman was placed 36 in the Forbes 2022 list of World’s 100 most powerful women. Fortune dubbed her India’s most powerful lady.
Early and Personal Life
Nirmala Sitharaman was born in a Tamil Iyengar family Savitri and Narayanan Sitharaman in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She attended Sacred Heart Convent Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School Villupuram until primary school, as well as Madras and Tiruchirappalli. In 1980, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirappalli, and in 1984, she earned a Master of Arts degree in economics and an M.Phil. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. She then enrolled in a Ph.D. programme in Economics with an emphasis on Indo-Europe trade, but eventually dropped out and moved to London (when her husband was awarded a scholarship at the London School of Economics), preventing her from completing her degree.
Sitharaman met her husband, Parakala Prabhakar, from Narsapuram, Andhra Pradesh, while they were both students at Jawaharlal Nehru University. While Nirmala was a BJP supporter, her husband came from a Congress household. They married in 1986 and have one child. Prabhakar worked as a communications advisor to Andhra Pradesh’s former Chief Minister.
| Name | Nirmala Sitharaman |
| Born | 18 August 1959 Madurai, Madras State, India |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Spouse | |
| Parents | Narayanan Sitaraman, Savitri |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Children | Parakala Vangmayi |
| Education | Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College (BA), Jawaharlal Nehru University (MA, MPhil) |
| Height | in Feet Inches- 5’4” |
| weight | in kilograms– 62kg approx. |
| Nationality | Indian |
Political career
Sitharaman joined the BJP in 2006 and was named the party’s spokeswoman in 2010. She was appointed as a junior minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet in 2014, and she was elected as an Andhra Pradesh Rajya Sabha member in June of same year. She was one of the 12 candidates nominated by the BJP in May 2016 to run in the Rajya Sabha elections on June 11. Sitharaman successfully contested her Karnataka seat. She served as India’s Defence Minister and led the Indian Air Force’s Balakot Air Strike in 2019. She is now India’s Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs and has presented five annual budgets (as of 2023). Under her leadership, India’s economy surpassed the $3.1 trillion milestone.
Union Cabinet Minister
Union Defence Minister
She was named Minister of Defence on September 3, 2017, becoming only the second woman after Indira Gandhi to hold the role, but the first full-time female defence minister.
Union Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman was named finance and corporate affairs minister. on May 31, 2019. She is India’s first full-time female finance minister. On July 5, 2019, she delivered her first budget to the Indian parliament. On February 1, 2020, Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2020-21. During the COVID-19 epidemic in India, she was put in command of the COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force.
Non-political career
Nirmala Sitharaman was a salesperson at Habitat, a home decor store on Regent Street in London. She worked as an assistant to the Economist at the Agricultural Engineers Association in the United Kingdom. She has also worked as a Senior Manager (R&D) for PWC and temporarily for the BBC World Service during her time in the UK. She’s also a member of the National Commission for Women. She was a founding director of Pranava in Hyderabad in 2017.
