Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has placed tax policy at the heart of the country’s priorities for its one-year G20 presidency, which began on December 1 2022.
Sitharaman has highlighted building consensus on contentious issues including global policies, taxation and debt distress as key to multilateral cooperation. The Indian finance minister has also been critical of international financing institutions and suggested that they will likely be an issue of particular concern during India’s reign.
Sitharaman’s star has shone since joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party in 2008. She was first elected to the Parliament of India in 2014 and has since held various ministerial positions, including defence, commerce and industry, corporate affairs, and finance.
Aside from politics, Sitharaman’s early career was forged in the UK. She gained experience as an assistant to the economist in the Agricultural Engineers Association and subsequently as a senior manager at PwC in London. She also briefly worked at the BBC World Service.
Tax dodgers and fraudsters have reason to be concerned following Sitharaman’s instruction for the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs to use artificial intelligence and data analytics to close tax leakages.
