Nirmala Sitharaman was ranked thirty-sixth in the Forbes 2022 List of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Born on August 18, 1959, she became India’s first full-time female Finance Minister on May 31, 2019. Nirmala Sitharaman retained her position as India’s Finance Minister in 2024 after Narendra Modi came to power for a third term. Thus, so far, she has presented seven consecutive budgets (including one interim budget) in her career as India’s Finance Minister.
Meet Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman: India’s first female full-time Defence Minister to record 8th consecutive budget
On February 1, 2025, Nirmala Sitharaman presented her career’s record eighth consecutive Union budget. For the uninitiated, Sitharaman surpassed India’s former Finance Minister, Yashwantrao Chavan, who presented the budget seven times. She is now in third position with late politician, Pranab Mukherjee, who had presented eight budgets. P. Chidambaram is in second place with nine budgets. The record-holder with the most budgets is former Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai, who has presented ten budgets.
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