- published: 26 May 2015
- views: 1727
A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial policy). In many countries, this role is separate from a finance minister, who has more budgetary responsibilities.
Notable examples are:
Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian politician from the state of Andhra Pradesh presently serving as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, as well as a Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Finance headed by Arun Jaitley. Until recently, she served as a national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Currently, she has been allotted the MP seat in the Rajya Sabha representing the state of Andhra Pradesh to replace former MP from Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy, who had then recently died. This seat was allotted by the Telugu Desam Party, a major alliance partner of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition government, to Sitharaman.
Nirmala Sitharaman was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu in Southern India. She attained a B.A. degree from Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College, Tiruchirappalli and an MA degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1980 followed by a Ph.D in the Indo-European textile trade within the GATT framework. Sitharaman then served at Pricewaterhouse Coopers as a Senior Manager and later for the BBC World Service. She is one of the founding directors of Pranava school in Hyderabad. She was a former member of the National Commission for Women.