Nirmala Sitharaman takes charge of Finance Ministry
New Delhi, June 12
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge of the Finance Ministry for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY ’25, that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government’s priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat.
Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary TV Somanathan and other top officials.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
Sitharaman, who is credited with carrying forward second-generation reforms in her last term, would be creating a record by presenting the seventh Budget in a row and sixth full Budget consecutively.
Full Budget for FY ’25 is likely to be presented to the newly formed 18th Lok Sabha next month.
She has many records to her credit in her political career. She created a record when she was appointed the first woman Defence Minister, in 2017. Prior to that, she was industry and commerce minister.
When her mentor Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister 2014-19) took ill, Sitharaman was given the charge of the finance portfolio in the newly re-elected Modi government after the 2019 general election.
She became the first full-time woman Finance Minister in Independent India.
Earlier, Indira Gandhi had held finance as an additional portfolio for a short duration when she was the prime minister of India.
