Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs — Government of India

About Nirmala Sitharaman

Key facts Role: Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Organisation: Government of India Country: India Sector: Politics & Government (public finance) Headline figures: 2026-27 Budget spending of ₹53.5 lakh crore; fiscal deficit target of 4.3% of GDP for 2026-27 Nirmala Sitharaman holds the purse strings of South Asia's largest economy, and in the past year she has used them to rewrite two of India's biggest tax systems. In September 2025 the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council she chairs collapsed India's four-rate consumption tax into two main slabs of 5% and 18%. On 1 February 2026 she presented her ninth consecutive Union Budget, a record unbroken run for an Indian finance minister, and on 1 April the Income Tax Act, 2025 came into force in place of the six-decade-old 1961 law. The role As Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Sitharaman runs the Centre's budget, borrowing and tax policy and oversees company law. The 2026-27 Budget estimates total spending of ₹53.5 lakh crore (about ₹53.5 trillion), net tax receipts for the Centre of ₹28.7 lakh crore and net market borrowing through dated securities of ₹11.7 lakh crore. Public capital expenditure rises to ₹12.2 lakh crore, from ₹11.2 lakh crore budgeted for 2025-26. She says she has met the pledge she made in 2021-22 to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26; the revised estimate for that year is 4.4%. She has set a target of 4.3% for 2026-27 and now anchors policy to debt, which is forecast to fall to 55.6% of GDP from 56.1%. The reforms The GST Council, which brings together ministers from every state under her chairmanship, agreed the overhaul at its 56th meeting on 3 September 2025. The 12% and 28% slabs were scrapped, most items moved to 5% or 18%, and a 40% rate was kept for a short list of luxury and "sin" goods. The new rates took effect on 22 September 2025. Reuters reported the move as an effort to spur domestic demand against punishing US tariffs, with an estimated revenue cost to the Centre and states of ₹480 billion. When the 2026-27 Budget arrived, Reuters described it as keeping a tight leash on spending because the past year's income and consumption tax cuts were weighing on revenue. The Budget itself leaned on manufacturing and infrastructure. It included Biopharma SHAKTI, a ₹10,000-crore programme over five years to build domestic production of biologics and biosimilars, a ₹10,000-crore SME Growth Fund, seven high-speed rail "growth connector" corridors, new dedicated freight corridors and 20 new national waterways. It also offered tax holidays until 2047 for foreign cloud-service providers, and it raised securities transaction tax on futures to 0.05% from 0.02%. Background Sitharaman trained as an economist. She took a master's degree in economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University and then worked in London, including as a senior manager in research and analysis at Price Waterhouse, before returning to India. She served on the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and became a national spokesperson in 2010. After the 2014 election she was made Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry. In September 2017 she became India's first full-time woman defence minister, and she has been finance minister since May 2019, making her the country's first full-time woman in that post. Regional reach Her reach extends well beyond India's borders. As India's governor on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, where India is the second-largest shareholder, she led a delegation to the bank's 11th annual meeting in Doha on 28 September 2026. There she scheduled bilateral meetings with the bank's president and with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Jordan, Algeria and Nepal, alongside talks with Qatari investors. The previous day, in Bengaluru, she called for patient capital for artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing. What to watch: whether revenue holds up after two years of tax cuts, how the new income-tax regime beds in, and the shape of the 2027-28 Budget, due next February. She ranks first because no other woman in the region has formal control over a budget of this size, or over tax rules that affect so many people. Sources PIB, Summary of Union Budget 2026-27 , 1 Feb 2026 Budget 2026-27 speech of Nirmala Sitharaman, 1 Feb 2026 (paras 33, 93–97; New Income Tax Act section) PIB, fiscal deficit release (RE 2025-26 4.4%, BE 2026-27 4.3%), 1 Feb 2026 Reuters, India budget walks tightrope between revenue strain, spending needs , 1 Feb 2026 Moneycontrol, Nirmala Sitharaman creates history with 9th consecutive Budget , 1 Feb 2026 India Today, How many budgets has Nirmala Sitharaman presented so far? , 1 Feb 2026 Reuters, India slashes consumption tax on hundreds of items to spur domestic demand , 3 Sep 2025 PIB press note on 56th GST Council meeting (two-slab structure, 40% rate, effective 22 Sep 2025) PIB, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman to assume charge as Defence Minister , Sep 2017 The Hindu, Defence a new challenge for Nirmala Sitharaman's battle-tested skills , 3 Sep 2017 Economic Times, Nirmala Sitharaman in Qatar from September 27-29, to attend AIIB annual meet , Sep 2026 Times of India, AI, chips & quantum tech key to India's next growth phase , 27 Sep 2026

Why this entry is on the list

She ranks first because no other woman in the region has formal control over a budget of this size, or over tax rules that affect so many people. As Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs she presented her ninth consecutive Union Budget on 1 February 2026, with estimated spending of ₹53.5 lakh crore, after overseeing the GST overhaul and before the Income Tax Act, 2025 came into force.