2. Ramasamy Chetty
Kandasamy
Shanmukham Chetty
Served as independent India's first
finance minister from 1947 to 1949
However, it was not the budget but a
review of the economic scenario that
India was in at that time
He Also served as President of India's
Central Legislative Assembly from 1933
to 1935 and Diwan of Cochin kingdom
from 1935 to 1941
3. Chintaman
Dwarakanath
Deshmukh
He was the finance minister of India
from 1950-1957.
He was the first one to present the
budget in the first elected parliament.
While presenting the budget for 1950-51,
he announced the formation of the
Planning Commission
Was the first Indian to be appointed as
the Governor of the Reserve Bank of
India in 1943 by the British Raj
4. Jawaharlal Nehru
After Krishnamachari resigned from the
post of Finance Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru
took over
He was the Prime Minister then
He presented the budget for 1958-59
He emerged as the paramount leader of
the Indian Independence Movement under
the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi
He ruled India from its establishment as
an independent nation in 1947 until his
death in office in 1964
5. Morarji Ranchhodji
Desai
In 1958 he became the finance minister
He presented five annual and one
interim budget
After the fourth general election, he
once again became the finance
minister and was on the post from
1967-1969
During this tenure he presented three
budgets and one interim budget
6. Indira Priyadarshini
Gandhi
After Desai resigned, Indira Gandhi
became the Finance Minister
So far, she has been the only woman
Finance Minister and took over the
portfolio from 1970-71
She was the third Prime Minister of
India
7. R. Venkataraman
He was the Finance Minister from
1980-1982
After the seventh General Elections in
January, 1980 the Congress Party
returned to power and presented the
interim and final budgets from 1980-81
and the annual budget for 1981-82.
Later he rose to become the country’s
Vice President and President
8. Pranab Mukherjee
He took over the responsibility of
the finance minister from 1982-1984
He presented the annual budgets for
1982-83, 1983-84 and 1984-85
He was the first Rajya Sabha
member to hold the Finance
portfolio
He became the finance minister
again in 2009-2010
9. Manmohan Singh
He was the Finance Minister in 1991-
96, took over the position again in
2008-09 & 2012
He opened up the Indian
economy, liberalized trade and
encouraged foreign investors to
explore Indian opportunities
He is currently the Prime Minister of
India
10. Chidambaram
Palaniappan
He was the Finance Minister from 1996-
98
He took over the profile again in 2004-
08 and became the Finance Minster yet
again in 2012.
He is the current Finance Minister of
India
