The Minister of Finance or the Finance Minister (ISO: Vitta Mantrë), is the head of the Ministry of Finance and a high-ranking minister in the Union Council of Ministers of the Government of India. The finance minister is responsible for the fiscal policy of the government, and presents the annual union budget in the Indian parliament. The minister is usually a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, and the National Security Council. The finance minister is assisted by a minister of state and, less commonly by a deputy minister.
The first finance minister of independent India was R. K. Shanmukham Chetty of the Indian National Congress, who served in the First Nehru ministry from 15 August 1947 to 17 August 1948. P. Chidambaram of the Congress has had the longest tenure, serving for eight years and 41 days. Nirmala Sitharaman of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the incumbent finance minister, serving since 31 May 2019.
Two finance ministers–R.Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee, had gone on to serve as the president later. Four finance ministers–Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, and Manmohan Singh, later served as the prime minister.