Minister of Finance ( India ) - Wikipedia Minister of Finance ( India ) Minister of Finance Emblem of India Incumbent Arun Jaitley since 26 May 2014 Ministry of Finance Style The Honourable Member of Cabinet Cabinet Committee on Security Appointer President on the advice of the Prime Minister Inaugural holder Liaquat Ali Khan Formation 29 October 1946 The Minister of Finance ( or simply, finance minister ) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is responsible for the fiscal policy of the government. As part of this, a key duty of the Finance Minister is to present the annual Union Budget in Parliament, which details the government 's plan for taxation and spending in the coming financial year. Through the Budget, the finance minister also outlines the allocations to different ministries and departments. Occasionally, he is assisted by the Minister of State for Finance and the lower - ranked Deputy Minister of Finance. The first finance minister of independent India was R.K. Shanmukham Chetty, who also presented its first Budget. The incumbent Arun Jaitley, of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has held office since 26 May 2014. As of September 2017, Morarji Desai has presented 10 budgets which is the highest followed by P Chidambaram 's 9 and Pranab Mukherjee 's 8. Yashwant Sinha, Yashwantrao Chavan and C.D. Deshmukh have presented 7 budgets each while Manmohan Singh and T.T. Krishnamachari have presented 6 budgets. As of February 2018, four Finance Ministers have gone on to become the Prime Minister who are : Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, V.P. Singh and Manmohan Singh. Lists of finance ministers Name Portrait Term of office Political party ( Alliance ) Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan ( Interim government ) 29 October 1946 14 August 1947 All - India Muslim League Jawaharlal Nehru ( Vice President of the interim govt ) R.K. Shanmukham Chetty 15 August 1947 1949 Indian National Congress Jawaharlal Nehru John Mathai 1949 1950 C.D. Deshmukh 29 May 1950 1957 T.T. Krishnamachari 1957 13 February 1958 Jawaharlal Nehru 13 February 1958 13 March 1958 Morarji Desai 13 March 1958 29 August 1963 T.T. Krishnamachari 29 August 1963 1965 Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri Sachindra Chaudhuri 1965 13 March 1967 Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi Morarji Desai 13 March 1967 16 July 1969 Indira Gandhi Indira Gandhi 1970 1971 Yashwantrao Chavan 1971 Chidambaram Subramaniam 1977 Haribhai M. Patel 24 March 1977 24 January 1979 Janata Party Morarji Desai Charan Singh 24 January 1979 28 July 1979 Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna 28 July 1979 14 January 1980 Janata Party ( Secular ) Charan Singh R. Venkataraman 14 January 1980 15 January 1982 Indian National Congress Indira Gandhi Pranab Mukherjee 15 January 1982 31 December 1984 V.P. Singh 31 December 1984 24 January 1987 Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi 24 January 1987 25 July 1987 N.D. Tiwari 25 July 1987 25 June 1988 Shankarrao Chavan 25 June 1988 2 December 1989 Madhu Dandavate 2 December 1989 10 November 1990 Janata Dal ( National Front ) V.P. Singh Yashwant Sinha 10 November 1990 21 June 1991 Samajwadi Janata Party ( National Front ) Chandra Shekhar Manmohan Singh 21 June 1991 16 May 1996 Indian National Congress P.V. Narasimha Rao Jaswant Singh 16 May 1996 1 June 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee P. Chidambaram 1 June 1996 21 April 1997 Tamil Maanila Congress ( United Front ) H.D. Deve Gowda I.K. Gujral 21 April 1997 1 May 1997 Janata Dal ( United Front ) I.K. Gujral P. Chidambaram 1 May 1997 19 March 1998 Tamil Maanila Congress ( United Front ) Yashwant Sinha 19 March 1998 1 July 2002 Bharatiya Janata Party ( National Democratic Alliance ) Atal Bihari Vajpayee Jaswant Singh 1 July 2002 22 May 2004 P. Chidambaram 22 May 2004 30 November 2008 Indian National Congress ( United Progressive Alliance ) Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh 30 November 2008 24 January 2009 Pranab Mukherjee 24 January 2009 26 June 2012 Manmohan Singh 26 June 2012 31 July 2012 P. Chidambaram 31 July 2012 26 May 2014 Arun Jaitley 26 May 2014 Incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party ( National Democratic Alliance ) Narendra Modi References Jump up ^ `` Chidambaram is second only to Morarji Desai in presenting Budget ''. www.businesstoday.in. Retrieved 29 September 2017. 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Question: who was the first finance minister of independent india
Answer: Liaquat Ali Khan