28 February 2015 :: The Minister of Finance (or simply, finance minister) 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, he is assisted by the Minister of State for Finance and the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Finance.
The first finance minister of independent India was R. K. Shanmukham Chetty, who also presented its first Budget. The incumbent Arun Jaitley, of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has held office since 26 May 2014.
Lists of finance ministers
| Name | Term of office | Political party (Alliance) |
Prime Minister | ||||
| Liaquat Ali Khan | 29 October 1946 | 14 August 1947 | All-India Muslim League | Jawaharlal Nehru (Vice President of the interim govt) |
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| R. K. Shanmukham Chetty | 15 August 1947 | 1949 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru | |||
| John Mathai | 1949 | 1950 | |||||
| C. D. Deshmukh | 1950 | 1957 | |||||
| T. T. Krishnamachari | 1957 | 13 February 1958 | |||||
| Jawaharlal Nehru | 13 February 1958 | 13 March 1958 | |||||
| Morarji Desai | 13 March 1958 | 29 August 1963 | |||||
| T. T. Krishnamachari | 29 August 1963 | 1965 | Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri |
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| Sachindra Chaudhuri | 1965 | 13 March 1967 | Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi |
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| Morarji Desai | 13 March 1967 | 16 July 1969 | Indira Gandhi | ||||
| Indira Gandhi | 1970 | 1971 | |||||
| Yashwantrao Chavan | 1971 | 1975 | |||||
| Chidambaram Subramaniam | 1975 | 1977 | |||||
| Haribhai M. Patel | 24 March 1977 | 24 January 1979 | Janata Party | Morarji Desai | |||
| Charan Singh | 24 January 1979 | 28 July 1979 | |||||
| Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna | 28 July 1979 | 14 January 1980 | Janata Party (Secular) | Charan Singh | |||
| R. Venkataraman | 14 January 1980 | 15 January 1982 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi | |||
| Pranab Mukherjee | 15 January 1982 | 31 December 1984 | |||||
| V. P. Singh | 31 December 1984 | 24 January 1987 | Rajiv Gandhi | ||||
| Rajiv Gandhi | 24 January 1987 | 25 July 1987 | |||||
| N. D. Tiwari | 25 July 1987 | 25 June 1988 | |||||
| Shankarrao Chavan | 25 June 1988 | 2 December 1989 | |||||
| Madhu Dandavate | 2 December 1989 | 10 November 1990 | Janata Dal (National Front) |
V. P. Singh | |||
| Yashwant Sinha | 10 November 1990 | 21 June 1991 | Samajwadi Janata Party (National Front) |
Chandra Shekhar | |||
| Manmohan Singh | 21 June 1991 | 16 May 1996 | Indian National Congress | P. V. Narasimha Rao | |||
| Jaswant Singh | 16 May 1996 | 1 June 1996 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |||
| P. Chidambaram | 1 June 1996 | 21 April 1997 | Tamil Maanila Congress (United Front) |
H. D. Deve Gowda | |||
| I. K. Gujral | 21 April 1997 | 1 May 1997 | Janata Dal (United Front) |
I. K. Gujral | |||
| P. Chidambaram | 1 May 1997 | 19 March 1998 | Tamil Maanila Congress (United Front) |
I. K. Gujral | |||
| Yashwant Sinha | 19 March 1998 | 1 July 2002 | Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance) |
Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |||
| Jaswant Singh | 1 July 2002 | 22 May 2004 | |||||
| P. Chidambaram | 22 May 2004 | 30 November 2008 | Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance) |
Manmohan Singh | |||
| Manmohan Singh | 30 November 2008 | 24 January 2009 | |||||
| Pranab Mukherjee | 24 January 2009 | 26 June 2012 | |||||
| Manmohan Singh | 26 June 2012 | 31 July 2012 | |||||
| P. Chidambaram | 31 July 2012 | 26 May 2014 | |||||
| Arun Jaitley | 26 May 2014 | Incumbent | Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance) |
Narendra Modi | |||
