Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman was born on 18th August, 1959 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu to Smt. K. Savitri and Shri K. Sitharaman. She completed her schooling and bachelors from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Trichirapalli and headed to Jawahalal Nehru University to pursue her masters in Economics.
After submitting her doctoral thesis on Indo European Textile Trade, she moved to London and worked as the Senior Manager (Research & Analysis) in Price Waterhouse, London. During her stay in London she also worked briefly for BBC World Service.
Post her return to India, she was keen on working towards institutionalizing Policy Analysis in India and therefore established Centre for Public Policy Studies in Hyderabad in 1992 and served as its Deputy Director. In 1997, She established Pranava, a school in Hyderabad that won the British Council’s International School Award, 2007-2010 for its unconventional approach to education that prioritized giving shape to a child’s inherent talent over the conventional learn and rote system.
From 2003-2005, she served as a member of the National Commission for Women and in 2008, Smt. Sitharaman was invited to become a member of the BJP’s National Executive. In 2010, under the presidentship of Sh. Nitin Gadkari, Smt. Sitharaman was appointed as the National spokesperson of the party and from then till the General Elections,2014.
After the historic victory of BJP under the leadership of Shri Modi in General Elections , 2014, she was inducted into the Council of Ministers and was appointed as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry and MOS for Finance and Corporate Affairs.
Uniquely so, she first became a Union Minister and then a Member of the Parliament. After being sworn in as a Union minister in May, 2014 she was in June, 2014 unanimously elected to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.