Nirmala Sitharaman is on a hat-trick. Everyone wants to know what surprises she has up her sleeves in the 2021-2022 Budget. Prior to this she has presented two consecutive budgets – including her maiden budget on 5 July 2019 and the Union Budget 2020–21 on 1 February 2020.
Though better known for her gift of the gab and politically correct statements as the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party she is a thorough bred economist who knows what she is talking.
Born in a Tamil family from Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, Sitharaman obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Tiruchirapalli, before moving to Delhi for MA and M.Phil in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1984. She enrolled for Ph.D. in Economics but was unable to complete her degree after her husband secured a scholarship in London School of Economics.
Even in her stint as a politician Sitharaman has served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Finance and the Minister for Commerce and Industry with independent charge.
Nirmala Sitharaman was India’s second female defence minister and second female finance minister after Indira Gandhi and first full-time female Finance Minister.
Sitharaman ranked 41st in the Forbes list of 100 most powerful women in the world in 2020 and ranked 34th in the world in 2019.
