Union minister for finance and corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has been in charge of two key portfolios in the Narendra Modi-led government, and as India’s longest serving full-time woman finance minister, she has presented six Budgets in a row — equalling the record of Morarji Desai.
At a time when the global economy faces a slowdown, economic growth and development of India is being closely watched for being an outlier among emerging economies.
Sitharaman has steered the Indian economy through the post-Covid pandemic economic recovery to help it post 7%-plus growth for three consecutive years.
Just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, she also unveiled a confident interim Budget for 2024-25.
The expectations of sops and extra spending before elections slipped into the backdrop as Sitharaman’s Budget was lauded for displaying fiscal prudence.
Sitharaman will be the guest at the Express Adda in Bengaluru on Wednesday and will be in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and P Vaidyanathan Iyer, National Executive Editor, The Indian Express.
The event comes at a time when the government is charting out India’s growth trajectory with a focused thrust on capital expenditure. It also comes at a time when the global risks from geopolitical conflicts run the risk of affecting trade, commodity prices and supply chains. The challenge for the Finance Minister then is to remain steadfast on the growth path amid the continuing risks from such factors.
Born in Madurai in a middle-class family, Sitharaman completed her Masters in Economics from JNU. She joined the BJP in 2008 and became the party’s national spokesperson in 2010.
During the first five-year term of the Modi government, she served as Union minister with independent charge for corporate affairs and minister of state for finance before she was elevated to the post of defence minister. In the present government, Sitharaman heads the Union finance and corporate affairs ministries.
The Express Adda is a series of informal interactions organised by The Indian Express Group and features those at the centre of change. Previous guests at the Adda include external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Union housing and urban affairs and petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri and motivational strategist Gaur Gopal Das.