Minister of Finance (India)
The Minister of Finance is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is responsible for the fiscal policy of the government. As part of this, a key duty of the Finance Minister is to present the annual Union Budget in Parliament, which details the government's plan for taxation and spending in the coming financial year. Through the Budget, the finance minister also outlines the allocations to different ministries and departments. Occasionally, s/he is assisted by the Minister of State for Finance and the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Finance.
There have been a number of Finance Ministers who went on to become the Prime Minister like Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Manmohan Singh and also to serve as the President like R.Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee. Several other Prime Ministers have since held the additional charge of finance ministry.
The current Finance Minister of India is Nirmala Sitharaman.
