Interim Budget 2024: Meet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s key team

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Feb 1, 2024, 10:50 AM IST

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled later this year. The Union Budget is prepared annually by the Department of Economic Affairs, which operates under the Union Ministry of Finance. Meet the key team who shaped the interim budget.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present her sixth straight Budget today (1 February). The customary pre-budget "halwa" ritual, which took place on January 24, marked the start of the last phase of the interim budget's development. The newly elected administration is expected to release the whole budget for the fiscal year 2024–25 in July.

Nirmala Sitharaman

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Sitharaman is a senior BJP leader and India’s first full-time female finance minister. She held the defence and commerce ministries during Narendra Modi's first term as prime minister. She graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University in the National Capital with a degree in economics.

On July 5, 2019, she made her first comprehensive budget presentation as the Finance Minister. The 64-year-old, a Karnataka representative in the Rajya Sabha, will surpass Morarji Desai as the only other finance minister to present six consecutive budgets.

Sitharaman ruled out making any "spectacular announcement" on her budget in December of last year. Just a "vote on account" will be held before to the main elections, according to her.

TV Somanathan

As the senior-most secretary among the five in the ministry, TV Somanathan holds the charge of the finance secretary. He is the secretary in the department of expenditures and is an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, having joined in 1987.

According to reports, Somanathan, who formerly worked in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), has also held deputation positions as a director at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and as a joint secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. With a Ph.D. in economics, he has written two books and over 80 papers and articles in the field.

Ajay Seth

Another member of the Karnataka cadre IAS batch from 1987 is the secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). He made headlines last year when he was the officer in charge of the G20 bloc's financial track, which India hosted for the first time in September 2023. He has also oversaw projects in the past, including the establishment of the Infrastructure Finance Secretariat and the first sovereign green bond offering in India.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey

The secretary, DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management), is a 1987 batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, according to the report. He is known for leading the efforts to privatise Air India and the initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

Sanjay Malhotra

Malhotra serves as the revenue secretary and is a 1990 batch bureaucrat from the Rajasthan cadre. Prior to this, he was the head of the Financial Services Department.The report claims that in order to keep the government on the path of budgetary reduction, he makes sure that tax revenue growth is sustained. He is also a major contributor to the Part B draught of Sitharaman's budget speech.

Vivek Joshi

As a secretary in the Department of Financial Services, Joshi joined the ministry in November 2022, making him one of the newest members of the exclusive advisory group. In addition to being an IAS officer from the 1989 batch from the Haryana cadre, he has a degree in international economics from the University of Geneva. Prior to taking on the role of Financial Services Secretary, he held the positions of India's Registrar General and Census Commissioner.

V Anantha Nageswaram

Reports suggest that Nageswaram serves as the chief economic advisor (CEA). He is thought to be among Sitharaman's "closest advisors" on matters pertaining to the economy, world events, and their effects on the Indian economy. He is also an author and a teacher. According to report, he received his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and his PhD from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

PK Mishra

Mishra is a cabinet-level official who oversees all significant government policy topics, according to News18.

Arvind Shrivastava

The PMO's officer for finance and economy is an IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre, having graduated in 1994. He is in charge of NITI Aayog, the finance and corporate affairs ministries. After serving as Joint Secretary in the Finance Ministry, he joined the PMO.

Hari Ranjan Rao

The Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, born in 1994, is in charge of the PMO's technology and governance divisions. He was Shivraj Singh Chouhan's previous secretary while he was the chief minister of MP. He was assigned to the Department of Telecommunications before to joining the PMO.

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