The Minister of Finance (Vitta Mantrī ) (or simply, the Finance Minister, short form FM) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior most offices of the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is responsible for the fiscal policy of the government. A key duty of the Finance Minister is to present the annual Union Budget in Parliament, detailing the government's plan for taxation and spending in the coming financial year. Through the Budget, the finance minister also outlines allocations to all the ministries and departments. The Minister is assisted by the Minister of State for Finance and the junior Deputy Minister of Finance.
There have been a number of Ministers of Finance that went on to become the Prime Minister; Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Manmohan Singh and also to serve as the President; R.Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee. Several Prime Ministers have also gone on to hold the position of Minister of Finance.
The current Finance Minister of India is Nirmala Sitharaman. Of all finance ministers, Pranab Mukherjee and Nirmala Sitharaman had served as both cabinet ministers and ministers of state for finance.