List of Finance Ministers of India 1946 to 2024

Finance Ministers of India

Finance Ministers of India: The Finance Minister of India is in charge of the Ministry of Finance under the Government of India. The Ministry of Finance is one the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet and the Finance Minister of India is the head of the ministry.

The key duties of the Finance Ministers of India include managing the government’s fiscal policies and being responsible for formulating and presenting the annual Union Budget to Parliament. The inaugural Finance Minister of India, R. K. Shanmukham Chetty, was responsible for delivering India’s first budget.

First Finance Minister of India

R.K. Shanmukham Chetty was India’s inaugural Finance Minister, serving in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet from 1947 to 1949. His primary responsibility entailed crafting the nation’s first budget and steering its economic policies. As the pioneer in this role, Chetty played a pivotal part in laying the groundwork for India’s fiscal management and economic strategy during its early years of independence.

Current Finance Minister of India

Nirmala Sitharaman has been serving as the Finance Minister of India since her appointment on May 31, 2019, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. She presented her inaugural Union Budget on July 5, 2019. Under her leadership, the Ministry of Finance has incorporated the Department of Public Enterprises, reflecting the government’s initiative towards privatization and enhanced fiscal management of government-owned corporations.

List of Finance Ministers of India

Finance Minister	Term of Office (Start)	Term of Office (End)	Prime Minister
Liaquat Ali Khan	29 Oct 1946	14 Aug 1947	Jawaharlal Nehru
R. K. Shanmukham Chetty	15 Aug 1947	17 Aug 1948	Jawaharlal Nehru
John Mathai	22 Sep 1948	26 Jan 1950
	26 Jan 1950	06 May 1950
	06 May 1950	01-Jun 1950
C. D. Deshmukh	01 Jun 1950	13 May 1952
	13 May 1952	01 Aug 1956
Jawaharlal Nehru	01 Aug 56	30 Aug 1956
T. T. Krishnamachari	30 Aug 1956	17 Apr 1957
	17 Apr 1957	14 Feb 1958
Jawaharlal Nehru	14 Feb 1958	22 Mar 1958
Morarji Desai	22 Mar 1958	10 Apr 1962
	10 Apr 1962	31 Aug 1963
T. T. Krishnamachari	31 Aug 1963	31 Dec 1965	Jawaharlal Nehru
			Lal Bahadur Shastri
Sachindra Chaudhuri	01 Jan 1966	11 Jan 1966	Lal Bahadur Shastri
	11 Jan 1966	24 Jan 1966	Indira Gandhi
	24 Jan 1966	13 Mar 1967
Morarji Desai	13 Mar 1967	16 Jul 1969	Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi	16 Jul 1969	27 Jun 1970
Yashwantrao B. Chavan	27 Jun 1970	18 Mar 1971
	18 Mar 1971	10 Oct 1974
Chidambaram Subramaniam	10 Oct 1974	24 Mar 1977
Haribhai M. Patel	26 Mar 1977	24 Jan 1979	Morarji Desai
Charan Singh	24 Jan 1979	16 Jul 1979
Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna	28 Jul 1979	19 Oct 1979	Charan Singh
R. Venkataraman	14 Jan 1980	15 Jan 1982	Indira Gandhi
Pranab Mukherjee	15 Jan 1982	31 Oct 1984
	31 Oct 1984	31 Dec 1984
V. P. Singh	31 Dec 1984	14 Jan 1985	Rajiv Gandhi
	14 Jan 1985	30 Mar 1985
	30 Mar 1985	25 Sep 1985
	25 Sep 1985	24 Jan 1987
Rajiv Gandhi	24 Jan 1987	25 Jul 1987
N. D. Tiwari	25 Jul 1987	25 Jun 1988
Shankarrao B. Chavan	25 Jun 1988	02 Dec 1989
Madhu Dandavate	05 Dec 1989	10 Nov 1990	V. P. Singh
Yashwant Sinha	21 Nov 1990	21 Jun 1991	Chandra Shekhar
Manmohan Singh	21 Jun 1991	16 May 1996	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Jaswant Singh	16 May 1996	01 Jun 1996	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
P. Chidambaram	01 Jun 1996	21 Apr 1997	H. D. Deve Gowda
I.K. Gujral	21 Apr 1997	01 May 1997	I. K. Gujral
P. Chidambaram	01 May 1997	19 Mar 1998
Yashwant Sinha	19 Mar 1998	13 Oct 1999	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
	13 Oct 1999	01 Jul 2002
Jaswant Singh	01 Jul 2002	22 May 2004
P. Chidambaram	23 May 2004	30 Nov 2008	Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh	30 Nov 2008	24 Jan 2009
Pranab Mukherjee	24 Jan 2009	22 May 2009
	23 May 2009	26 Jun 2012
Manmohan Singh	26 Jun 2012	31 Jul 2012
P. Chidambaram	31 Jul 2012	26 May 2014
Arun Jaitley	26 May 2014	30 May 2019	Narendra Modi
Nirmala Sitharaman	31 May 2019	Incumbent	Narendra Modi

Functions of  Finance Minister

Here are the functions of finance minister of India:

• Formulating annual budgets and economic policies.
• Managing public finances and expenditures.
• Overseeing fiscal policies and taxation reforms.
• Monitoring financial stability and economic growth.
• Representing India in international financial institutions and negotiations.
• Directing financial institutions and regulatory bodies.
• Addressing issues related to banking, insurance, and capital markets.
• Facilitating foreign investments and trade policies.
• Presenting the Union Budget in Parliament and defending financial decisions.