The parliament’s budget session is scheduled to start on January 31 and run until April 4. The Union Budget 2025 under the Narendra Modi 3.0 government will be presented in February by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This time she is set to make history by presenting her 8th consecutive budget. She has presented seven straight budgets, including an interim one in February in 2024.She also holds the record for the longest budget speech, delivered on February 1, 2020, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes.

As she prepares to deliver the country’s next budget, much of the pre-budget discussion in the media is centered around whether the middle class will receive relief through a reduction in income tax. Let’s take a closer look at her journey from being an alumna of Jawaharlal Nehru University to becoming India’s finance minister.

Early Life and Education:

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman was born on 18th August 1959 in the temple town of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She did her schooling and her graduation in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Tiruchirapalli. She went on to do her master’s in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Indo-European textile trade was the focus of her draft PhD thesis.

Nirmala Sitharaman served as an assistant to an economist in the Agricultural Engineers Association, UK, in London. She subsequently worked as a senior manager (research and analysis) with Price Waterhouse, London. During this time she also briefly worked with BBC World Service.

On her return to India, she served as the deputy director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies at Hyderabad. Her interest in education led her to lay the foundation of ‘Pranava’, a reputed school in Hyderabad. She was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003-05 and instrumental in voicing various issues of women’s empowerment.

Her Entry into Politics and Role as Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in 2008 and was made a member of the National Executive. She was nominated as party spokesperson in March 2010, from when she has been a full-time party worker.

Nirmala Sitharaman was inducted into the Union of India’s Cabinet in a government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 26th May 2014. She was made a Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry. In addition, she was also made Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs.

Personal Life

Nirmala Sitharaman is married to Dr Parakala Prabhakar, an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the London School of Economics, and they have one daughter.

Nirmala Sitharaman’s journey from a middle-class upbringing to becoming one of the most powerful female leaders in Indian politics is a story of perseverance, intellect, and dedication.

New Delhi:

Representatives from industry bodies sought reduction in personal income tax rates to ensure higher disposable income in the hands of the middle class, reduction in excise duty on fuel, and measures to provide impetus to employment-intensive sectors in their customary pre-Budget meeting with the Finance Minister on Monday.

Industry bodies also raised the issue of dumping of excess stock by China globally, including in India, and challenges posed to food security and inflation due to the “climate emergency”, during the fifth pre-Budget consultation meeting.

The 2025-26 Union Budget will be presented on February 1.

Apart from the finance minister, the meeting was attended by finance secretary, secretary of DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management), Secretaries of the Department of Economic Affairs and the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, among others.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, CII President Sanjiv Puri said while the Indian economy is doing very well, globally there are a lot of challenges.

“We are seeing dumping of a lot of products (by China) into various parts of the world, including India. We also have the issue of climate emergency, which, besides other things, also impacts food and nutrition, (food) security and inflation. In this context we have made several suggestions and ideas”.

He said the CII has sought measures to provide impetus to areas that have large employment potential like garments, footwear, tourism, furniture, among others, apart from making suggestions for MSMEs and integrating India into global value chains.

“From a perspective of boosting consumption, we have suggested that there be some relief provided to income tax up to a Rs 20 lakh on the marginal income tax rate so that it boosts consumption, there is more disposable income and in turn also leads to buoyancy in revenues.

“We have also suggested that excise on petroleum be reduced a little, that will also provide higher disposable income and contribute to a virtuous cycle in the hands of the consumers,” Puri said.

FICCI Vice President Vijay Sankar, who was also present in the meeting, said, “Finance Minister and her colleagues gave a very patient hearing to the industry today. There were about 13 people from different industry chambers. There was some commonality of themes across some of the representations, basically the temporary slowdown faced due to dumping products especially by some our neighbours like China due to the slowdown in their economy”.

PHDCCI President Hemant Jain said, “The suggestion we made to the government was reduction in personal income tax so that there can be more money in the hands of people and that can spur the demand and reduce inflation. We have also asked for GST simplification.”

Assocham President Sanjay Nayar said, “We emphasised on what the MSMEs need because they are the backbone of the supply chain… whether it is credit flow, complex registrations, multiplicity of TDS… We focused on simplification of procedures and rationalisation of things like TDS”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)