A short biography of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha

Sinha joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding various posts during his service tenure. He served as Sub-Divisional Magistarte and District Magistrate for 4 years; was Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department of the Bihar Government for 2 years, after which he worked in Ministry of Commerce as Deputy Secretary to the Government of India. From 1971 to 1973 Sinha was First Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassy in Germany. Subsequently he worked as Consul General of India in Frankfurt from 1973 to 1974.

After this, he worked in the Department of Industrial Infrastructure. Government of Bihar and in the Ministry of Industry, Government of India dealing with foreign industrial collaborations, technology imports, intellectual property rights and industrial approvals. Between 1980 to 1984 Sinha was joint Secretary in the Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India.

Sinha resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 1984 and joined active politics as a member of the Janta Party. He was appointed All-India General Secretary of the party in 1986 and was elected Member of the Rajya Sabha in 1988. When the Janta Dal was formed in 1989, he was appointed General Secretary. He worked as Minister of Finance from November, 1990 to June 1991 in Mr. Chandra Shekhar's Cabinet.

Yashwant Sinha became the national Spokesperson of the BJP in June, 1996 and was appointed Finance Minister of India in March, 1998. He represents Hazaribagh Constitutency in Bihar in the Lok Sabha.