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Nirmala Sitharaman (64), senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka who held held the key portfolio of Finance in the previous NDA government, is all set to play an important role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term at the Centre.
Sitharaman, who was sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister on Sunday evening, previously served as the Defence Minister from 2017 to 2019. During her tenure, the Balakot airstrikes in Pakistan were carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on February 26, 2019.
Allotted the Finance and Corporate Affairs portfolios in 2019, Sitharaman became the second female Finance Minister after the late Indira Gandhi. The Indian economy rose to become the fifth largest in the world with Sitharaman at the helm.
Born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in 1959, Sitharaman did her MA in economics and MPhil from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
She served as a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005. Earlier, she also worked as a salesperson at a home decor store in London.
The Forbes magazine ranked her 34th among the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2019. She has made it to Forbes' list of 100 most powerful women in the world for five consecutive years.
The former Finance Minister also represented India at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2017, besides travelling to many countries to represent India at various international events and summits.
A member of the BJP's National Executive since 2008, she served as the party's national spokesperson from 2010 to 2014.
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