Annual Meeting

Curriculum Vitae

YASHWANT SINHA is minister of finance of India (since 1999). He became active in politics when he joined the Janata Party in 1984, and was elected member of Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian Parliament) in 1988 and leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha. When Janata Dal was formed in 1989, he was the spokesperson and general secretary of the party. From November 1990 to June 1991, he served as finance minister for the first time. In 1995, he was elected member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from Ranchi and became leader of the opposition. He was also state president of the BJP, Bihar and national spokesperson for the BJP. Prior to joining politics, he served in the Indian Administrative Services for 24 years, where he held key posts as joint secretary in the Ministry of Surface Transport, chairman and managing director of Delhi Transport Corporation, and principal secretary to the chief minister of the Bihar government. He also served abroad as consul general in Frankfurt and first secretary (commercial) in Bonn, Germany. He holds a master's degree in political science from Patna University.