India News
Nirmala Sitharaman, was born in Madurai to Tamil Iyengar Brahmin parents Savitri and Narayanan Sitharaman on August 18, 1959.
Nirmala Sitharaman graduated from Madras and Tiruchirappalli. She received a BA in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchirappalli.
She left for Delhi in 1984 to do her MA and M.Phil in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Sitharaman unsuccessfully pursued a PhD in economics.
In London, Sitharaman sold home decor at Habitat before entering politics. She then became an assistant economist at the UK Agricultural Engineers Association.
She became Senior Manager at PwC R&D and BBC World Service, advancing her career. Her competence and perseverance earned her a seat on India's National Commission for Women.
After joining the BJP in 2006, Nirmala Sitharaman's political career began. She swiftly became party spokesman and served until 2014.
That year, she was appointed to Modi's cabinet for her devotion and talents. She won Karnataka's Rajya Sabha seat in May 2016 after being elected from Andhra Pradesh in June 2014.
She became Minister of Defence on Sept 3, 2017, after serving as Corporate Affairs Minister.
She became India's first full-time female Finance Minister and Minister for Commerce and Industry on May 31, 2019.
In 2022, she won another Rajya Sabha election for Karnataka. She remains Finance Minister in Modi 3.0 after the 2024 general elections.
Nirmala met her husband, Parakala Prabhakar, at JNU. Sitharaman is BJP and Prahakar is Congress, but they married in 1986 and have a daughter, Parakala Vangmayi.
Prabhakar advised then-Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu on communications. Sitharaman is simple outside of work. Her hobbies are traveling, hiking, music, and cooking.