 Nirmala Sitharaman was born in a Tamil family in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, to Savitri and Narayanan Sitharaman.She had her schooling from Madras and Tiruchirappalli.She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchirapalli in 1980, Master of Arts degree in economics and M.Phil.