About the Speaker
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman is India’s Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs since 31st May 2019. She is a Member of the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of India’s Parliament from the state of Karnataka. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics and M. Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She held the position as a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005. She was associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, a national party in India, since 2008 as a member of the BJP National Executive and further, as the party’s National Spokesperson. In her first term as a Rajya Sabha member, she was appointed as a Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in 2014. For a period of two years between 2017 to 2019, she served as India’s Minister of Defence. She has travelled extensively to many countries on bilateral visits and as a representative, including Italy, Japan, Cyprus and the Philippines. As of 2024, she has presented five annual budgets of India. Previously, she has also worked in the capacity of assistant to Economist in the Agricultural Engineers Association in the United Kingdom. She was also honoured with many awards and recognitions including those by the Economic Times and the Forbes Magazine.