Overview

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a tribute on X highlighting Sitharaman’s contributions to realizing “Viksit Bharat” and “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari shared birthday greetings praising her energy, dedication and commitment to national development.
• As finance minister, Sitharaman has presented the Union Budget eight times, second only to Morarji Desai’s record.
• She served as India’s defence minister from 2017 to 2019, becoming the second woman to hold that post after Indira Gandhi.
• She is India’s second woman finance minister after Indira Gandhi and the first person to occupy both the defence and finance portfolios full-time.