Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who has served as India’s Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs since 2019. She is the first woman to hold the finance portfolio full-time and earlier became the first full-time woman Defence Minister. An economist by training, she rose from party spokesperson to one of the most senior members of Narendra Modi‘s government and has presented a record run of consecutive Union Budgets.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Nirmala Sitharaman |
| Born | 18 August 1959, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Age | 67 |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Office | Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs (2019–present) |
| Earlier offices | Minister of Defence (2017–2019); Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (2014–2017) |
| Parliament | Rajya Sabha (since 2014) |
| Education | Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchirappalli; Jawaharlal Nehru University (M.A., M.Phil.) |
| Spouse | Parakala Prabhakar (m. 1986) |
| Children | 1 (Parakala Vangmayi) |
Early Life and Education
Sitharaman was born in Madurai into a Tamil family. Her father worked for the Indian Railways, so she grew up in several towns in Tamil Nadu. She took a degree in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirappalli and then a master’s and an M.Phil. in economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, where her research was on Indo-European trade.
Career
After marrying Parakala Prabhakar, a fellow JNU student, in 1986, Sitharaman moved to London. She worked there as a researcher with the consultancy Price Waterhouse and briefly for the BBC World Service. The couple returned to India in 1991 and settled in Hyderabad, where she helped found a school.
Sitharaman was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005. She joined the BJP in 2006 and became one of its national spokespersons in 2010. Her clear, combative appearances in television debates made her a familiar face before the 2014 general election.
When the BJP came to power in 2014 she was made Minister of State with independent charge of Commerce and Industry and was elected to the Rajya Sabha. In September 2017 she was promoted to Defence Minister, the first woman to hold the post full-time; Indira Gandhi had held it only as an additional charge while Prime Minister.
After the 2019 election Sitharaman became Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs. She replaced the traditional budget briefcase with a red cloth bahi-khata and later a tablet computer. Her tenure has included a large cut in corporate tax rates in 2019, the mergers of public sector banks, relief packages during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2025 Budget’s raising of the income tax exemption limit. She retained the ministry after the 2024 election and by February 2026 had presented nine consecutive Union Budgets. Her 2020 Budget speech, at about two hours and forty minutes, is the longest on record.
Personal Life
Sitharaman’s husband, Parakala Prabhakar, is an economist and political commentator from Andhra Pradesh. They have one daughter, Parakala Vangmayi. Sitharaman is known for her interest in classical music and for wearing handloom saris from different parts of India.
Achievements
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Nirmala Sitharaman born?
Nirmala Sitharaman was born on 18 August 1959 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India and is 67 years old.
Featured image: Nirmala Sitharaman, then Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, addresses a press conference in New Delhi, 14 October 2016. Photo by Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India), licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
