1. Nirmala Sitharaman was born on August 18, 1959, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

2. Nirmala Sitharaman was the second woman after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to hold the Defence Minister’s post.

3. She did her BA in Economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College and post-graduation from JNU, Delhi in 1984.

4. Nirmala Sitharaman has done a PhD dissertation on Indo-European textile trade.

5. She was a part of Free Thinkers (FT) campaigning during the JNU Students Union elections.

6. She is married to Parakala Prabhakar whom she met while studying at JNU. The two got married in 1986 and have a daughter.

7. She worked as a salesgirl in the United Kingdom where she recorded the highest sales during Christmas.

8. She also worked with BBC World Service and Agricultural Engineers Association while she was staying in the UK.

9. She started a school for the underprivileged in a Hyderabad village along with a policy research centre in the city.

10. She has also served as a member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) from 2003 to 2005.