All About Nirmala Sitharaman: Finance Minister Set for 9th Straight Budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deliver her Union Budget speech and table the government's revenue and expenditure plans for the year on February 1. The Budget session will run from January 28 to April 2, with a brief recess in between.

This will be Nirmala Sitharaman's ninth consecutive Budget. She also holds the record for the longest Budget speech, delivered on February 1, 2020, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes.

All About India's Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman was born on August 18,1959, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, to K Sitharaman and K Savitri. She completed her schooling and bachelor's degree in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College, Tiruchirappalli. She earned her Master's degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She pursued an MPhil in Economics through the International Trade Department at JNU's School of International Studies.

She moved to London and worked as an assistant to an economist at the Agricultural Engineers Association, and later at Pricewaterhouse. In London, she also briefly worked with BBC World Service.

Upon returning to India, she became Deputy Director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies in Hyderabad, which she founded in 1992. In 1997, she founded Pranava, a school in Hyderabad focused on child-centric education and experiential learning.

From 2003 to 2005, Nirmala Sitharaman served on the National Commission for Women. She joined the BJP in 2008, became national spokesperson in 2010, and organised its 2012 Gujarat election campaign. Elected to Rajya Sabha in 2014 and 2016, she served as Minister of Commerce and Industry.

In 2017, she became the Defence Minister of India. In 2019, she became Finance Minister and led the COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force. She is India's first full-time female finance minister.

She was re-elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka in 2022. After the 2024 General Elections, she again became Finance Minister in the BJP-led NDA government.

Nirmala Sitharaman is married to economist and political commentator Parakala Prabhakar. They have one daughter.

In June 2025, a Delhi court issued a notice to Nirmala Sitharaman in connection with a criminal defamation case filed by Lipika Mitra, wife of former AAP minister Somnath Bharti. The complaint alleged that Sitharaman made defamatory remarks about Mitra and her husband during a press conference amid the 2024 election campaign. The case has seen hearings, including a fine imposed on Mitra for non-appearance.