
Nirmala Sitharaman is an Indian lawyer and politician who now serves as India's Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs. She has been a member of the Rajya Sabha, India's upper legislative body, since 2014. Sitharaman already acted as India's Defence Minister, becoming the country's second woman defence minister as well as the country's second female finance minister after Indira Gandhi and the nation's first full-time female finance minister. She has held the positions of Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs within the Ministry of Finance, as well as Minister of Commerce and Industry with independent charge. Previously, she was a national spokeswoman for the Bharatiya Janata Party.