Meet the team behind Union budget 2023

The Union budget exercise involves intense discussions, collection of inputs from various stakeholders, and finally putting together a document that will decide the growth trajectory of the country in the next financial year. This year’s budget preparation was no different. The key players involved in the budget preparation were:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman 

The country’s first woman full-time finance minister is now a veteran of budget preparations as this was her fifth budget in row. She spoke for 86 minutes while presenting the budget for the year 2023-24. During the 2020 budget presentation, she had spoken for two hours and 42 minutes, making it the longest budget speech. She held the ministry during a very volatile situation as the economy has been facing the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

T.V. Somanathan (Finance and Expenditure Secretary)

A 1987-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, Somanathan earlier served in the PMO. He holds a doctorate in economics and is a qualified chartered accountant.

Ajay Seth (Secretary of Economic Affairs Department)

The 1987 Karnataka cadre IAS officer was appointed as the economic affairs secretary in April 2021. His role was to look for means for growth while maintaining macroeconomics stability.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey (Secretary of Investment and Public Asset Management Department)

A 1987 Odisha cadre IAS officer, Tuhin Kanta Pandey steered the privatisation of Air India and the listing of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). 

Sanjay Malhotra (Revenue Secretary)

A 1990 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, Sanjay Malhotra was shifted to the revenue department from the department of financial services, last year. 

Vivek Joshi (Secretary of Financial Services Department) 

A 1989-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, Vivek Joshi has a PhD and MA in International Economics from the Geneva Graduate Institute. He is a recent entrant to the finance ministry as he joined in October.

V. Anantha Nageswaran (Chief Economic Advisor)

Nageswaran presented his second economic survey on January 31 as the chief economic advisor. He said the country had made full recovery from the Covid-19 induced disruption. A former member of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC), he was appointed as the chief economic advisor in January, 2022. Nageswaran has a PhD in Finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.