Feb 1, 2024, 09:06 AM IST

Educational qualifications of 7 key faces of “Team Budget”

Ritik Raj

The Union Budget for the 2024–2025 financial year will be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.

 Let’s look at the educational backgrounds of the main figures in "Team Budget”

Union Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman: She graduated from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. She has a master's degree in economics and an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. Additionally, she enrolled in but did not finish her PhD in economics with a focus on trade between Indo-Europe.

TV Somanathan (Finance Secretary): He has an honours MA in Economics, a bachelor's degree in commerce (B.Com.), and a doctorate in economics from Calcutta University. After completing Harvard Business School's Executive Development Programme, he is a fully qualified chartered/cost accountant and company secretary. 

Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA): He is an IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, born in 1987. Between 2000 and 2004, he also held the positions of Director and Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Expenditure. He has a postgraduate degree in management and is a mechanical engineer.

Tuhin Kanta Panday, Secretary, DIPAM: He is an Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1987 batch. He holds an MBA from the UK and an MA in Economics from Punjab University in Chandigarh.

Sanjay Malhotra, the revenue secretary: is a graduate of IIT Kanpur and Princeton University in the United States, where he earned his master's degree in public policy.

Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Financial Services: In 1989, he joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He graduated from the Graduate Institute Geneva in Switzerland with a PhD in international economics. Under the direction of Professor Richard Baldwin, he finished his doctorate. Additionally, he completed his B.E. in mechanical engineering in 1987 at the University of Roorkee, which is now known as the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA): He received his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and his post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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