Finance Minister of India: Former Leaders, Responsibility and Facts

Finance Minister is the head of the Ministry of Finance and is responsible for all the decisions made by the Ministry of Finance. Know about the roles and responsibility of the Finance Minister.

Table of Contents

Finance Minister of India: Finance Minister is the head of the Ministry of Finance and is responsible for all the decisions made by the Ministry of Finance. It deals with taxation, financial legislation, financial institutions, capital markets, center and state finances, and the Union Budget. The function of the Finance Minister is to coordinate the finance ministry and also maintain transparency in operations and also operate in an efficient and accountable manner to support the development of the country’s economy. The current Finance Minister of India is Nirmala Sitharaman. Here we are providing the list of individuals who have been elected as a Finance Minister of India so far along with the eligibility criteria. You will also get tho know about the roles and responsibility of the Finance Minister of India.

List of All Finance Ministers of India

There have been 38 Finance Ministers of India since 1946. Liaquat Ali Khan was the first Finance Minister. Nirmala Sitharaman is the first female full-time Finance Minister of India. The list of all the Finance Ministers of India has been given below.

Finance Minister of India In Hindi

S.No.	Name	Office Tenure
1	Liaquat Ali Khan	October 29, 1946 to August 14, 1947
2	R. K. Shanmukham Chetty	August 15, 1947 to 1949
3	John Mathai	1949 to 1950
4	C. D. Deshmukh	May 29, 1950 to 1957
5	T. T. Krishnamachari	1957 to February 13, 1958
6	Jawaharlal Nehru	February 13, 1958 to March 13, 1958
7	Morarji Desai	March 13, 1958 to August 29, 1963
8	T. T. Krishnamachari	August 29, 1963 to 1965
9	Sachindra Chaudhuri	1965 to March 13, 1967
10	Morarji Desai	March 13, 1967 to July 16, 1969
11	Indira Gandhi	1970 to 1971
12	Yashwantrao Chavan	1971 to 1975
13	Chidambaram Subramaniam	1975 to 1977
14	Haribhai M. Patel	March 24, 1977 to January 24, 1979
15	Charan Singh	January 24, 1979 to July 28, 1979
16	Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna	July 28, 1979 to January 14, 1980
17	R. Venkataraman	January 14, 1980 to January 15, 1982
18	Pranab Mukherjee	January 15, 1982 to December 31, 1984
19	V. P. Singh	December 31, 1984 to January 24, 1987
20	Rajiv Gandhi	January 24, 1987 to July 25, 1987
21	N. D. Tiwari	July 25, 1987 to June 25, 1988
22	Shankarrao Chavan	June 25, 1988 to December 2, 1989
23	Madhu Dandavate	December 2, 1989 to November 10, 1990
24	Yashwant Sinha	November 10, 1990 to June 21, 1991
25	Manmohan Singh	June 21, 1991 to May 16, 1996
26	Jaswant Singh	May 16, 1996 to June 1, 1996
27	P. Chidambaram	June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997
28	I.K. Gujral	April 21, 1997 to May 1, 1997
29	P. Chidambaram	May 1, 1997 to March 19, 1998
30	Yashwant Sinha	March 19, 1998 to July 1, 2002
31	Jaswant Singh	July 1, 2002 to May 22, 2004
32	P. Chidambaram	May 22, 2004 to November 30, 2008
33	Manmohan Singh	November 30, 2008 to January 24, 2009
34	Pranab Mukherjee	January 24, 2009 to June 26, 2012
35	Manmohan Singh	June 26, 2012 to July 31, 2012
36	P. Chidambaram	July 31, 2012 to May 26, 2014
37	Arun Jaitley	May 26, 2014 to May 30, 2019
38	Nirmala Sitharaman	May 31, 2019 –

Roles & Responsibilities

Annual budget preparation: Ministry of finance under the guidance of the Finance Minister prepares the annual budget and estimates the government revenue and expenditure by the government. They see how the government money will be spent and they must be accountable to the public.
Fiscal policies. Finance Minister determines the fiscal policies that must be implemented by the government in resolving any economic problem in the country. Issues such as unemployment, deflation, inflation, etc. are set to be solved by the use of fiscal policies determined by the ministry of finance.
Allocation of revenue: The finance minister, allocate and distribute the revenue accordingly to the requirement and future development plans. The revenue is meant to be used in the development of the country. Ministry of finance shares the government revenue for every agency according to their power and seniority and rank in the government tasking.
Tax regulators. Although there are bodies that look after the tax,but that body works under the ministry of finance and it looks after the allocation of tax to different sectors that is needed. E.g. there is tariff, government duties, direct tax, and indirect tax. The tax is used in the development of the government and also in the payment of salaries as the case of Nigeria.

Chief Justice of India: Former CJI’s, Role and Eligibility

Interesting Facts

Independent India’s first Union Budget was presented on 26^th November, 1947 by Sri. R K Shanmukham Chetty.
Up to Union Budget for 2016- 17, the railway budget was presented a couple of days before the Union budget. Since 2017-18, the railway budgets being presented as part of the Union Budget, thus, a 92-year-old practice saw its end.
Nirmala Sitharaman is the second woman to hold the post of Defence Minister after Indira Gandhi and the first woman to hold the office full time. Indira Gandhi held this position between 1970 and 71. She took an additional charge while serving the country as the Prime Minister.
Union Budget for 1951-52 presented on 28^th February, 1951 by Sri. Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh, then Finance Minister was termed as first Union Budget of the Republic of India.