Who is Nirmala Sitharaman? 5 little-known facts about India's new Defence Minister

Dressed in beautiful red saree with golden border, when Nirmala Sitharaman took oath as Cabinet Minister at Rashtarpati Bhavan's opulent Durbar Hall, little did she know she would be making a history.

Hour after the third Cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government, the announcement that became the talking point of the rejig was Sitharaman's appointment as new Defence Minister.

As India's first full-time Defence Minister, this JNU alumni is now part of the strategic Cabinet Council on Security. She is the second woman minister after Sushma Swaraj to be part of the CCS.

Here are five little-known facts about India's new Raksha Mantri:

1: Born on August 18, 1959 in Madurai, Sitharaman did her schooling and graduation from Tiruchirapalli. She also holds a Masters in Economics degree from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University.

2: Later she moved to London where she worked as Senior Manager (Research and Analysis) with Price Waterhouse.

3: Sitharaman also had a short stint with the BBC World Service.

4: She joined the BJP in 2008 and was inducted in the Modi government on May 26, 2014 as Commerce Minister.

5: She is married to Dr Parakala Prabhakar, alumnus of Jawharlal Nehru University and London School of Economics. The couple has a daughter.