Modi cabinet 3.0: Piyush Goyal allotted commerce ministry portfolio

Piyush Goyal, who was sworn into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Union Council of Ministers on May 9, was allotted Commerce ministry on Monday.  He became one of the select few ministers to be reinducted into the new Cabinet. 

Goyal, who managed important ministries like Commerce and Industry in Modi's second government, won his first Lok Sabha election from the Mumbai North constituency by a big margin. Goyal, 59, has been a Rajya Sabha member since 2010 and has effectively represented the government's position in various debates in the Upper House.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Piyush Goyal defeated Congress candidate Bhushan Patil in the Mumbai North seat by a significant margin of 3,57,608 votes, the highest in the state.

Goyal, son of BJP stalwarts Ved Prakash Goyal and Chandrakanta Goyal, comes from a family deeply rooted in the party. His father served as the Minister of Shipping in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and was a national treasurer for the BJP, while his mother was a three-term MLA from Matunga in Mumbai.

Goyal has held significant ministerial roles, including Minister of Railways and Coal from 2017 to 2019. He also served twice as Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs in 2018 and 2019. Earlier, he was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy from 2014 to 2017, and Mines from 2016 to 2017.

As a Member of the Rajya Sabha, Goyal became the Leader of the House during Modi's second term as Prime Minister.

Goyal is a seasoned politician who has managed various ministries, including finance, railways, coal, corporate affairs, commerce, industry, textiles, consumer affairs, food, and public distribution. In 2021, he became the leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha.

Goyal boasts an impressive academic background, securing the all-India second rank in Chartered Accountancy and the second rank in Law from Mumbai University. Before his political career, he excelled as an investment banker, advising leading corporations on management strategies and growth. Additionally, he served on the boards of India's largest commercial banks, the State Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda.

His father, Late Vedprakash Goyal, held esteemed positions as a former Union Minister of Shipping and the National Treasurer of the BJP for over two decades. Meanwhile, his mother, Chandrakanta Goyal, served as an elected member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Mumbai on three occasions.