Yashwant Sinha – Fact File

•Yashwant Sinha is an Indian politician and former finance minister of India (1990–1991) under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and March 1998 – July 2002 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee , and foreign minister (July 2002 – May 2004) in Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s cabinet.

•He is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, currently the largest Opposition party in the country. •Yashwant Sinha joined the Indian Administrative Services in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure. •He served as sub-divisional magistrate and district magistrate for 4 years. •He was under secretary and deputy secretary in the finance department of the Bihar government for 2 years. •Later, Sinha worked in the ministry of commerce as deputy secretary to the Government of India. •From 1971 to 1973, he was first secretary (commercial) in the Indian Embassy, Bonn, Germany. •Yashwant has worked as consul general of India in Frankfurt from 1973 to 1974. •Sinha is also known for being the first finance minister to break the 53 year tradition of presenting the Indian budget at 5 pm local time, a practice held over from British Rule. •He became the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party in June, 1996. •On June 13, 2009, he resigned from the post of vice president of BJP.