Piyush Goyal | Crisis manager

On a moderately hot afternoon at Delhi’s Vanijya Bhawan in 2025, journalists were eager to ask questions to the Commerce Minister about the fallout from the U.S.’s unilateral imposition of 50% tariffs on India. Piyush Goyal is no stranger to such questions. Reading the room with care, Mr. Goyal underlined that any trade deal India might secure would be anchored in principles of “mutually beneficial, reciprocal and equitable”.

But with the U.S. tariffs, the mood was different in the country. For the government, the move coincided with the Monsoon Session of Parliament, with the Opposition pressing for an immediate statement in a session already marred by repeated disruptions. Greeted with loud protests within hours of the tariffs announcement, Mr. Goyal assured the House that the government was examining the situation, and would safeguard national interests, before leaving amid continued uproar.

This was not the first time Mr. Goyal was caught in a storm.

In 2018, during his tenure as the Railway Minister, Mr. Goyal faced protests from candidates who had concluded their apprenticeship training over the removal of their 20% quota. His convoy was targeted during demonstrations in Uttar Pradesh. Protests later subsided after he appealed to the protesters to apply for the ongoing recruitment drive, whose deadline was nearing.

Son of Vedprakash Goyal, a senior BJP leader and former Minister for shipping and waterways, and Chandrakanta Goyal, Piyush, a chartered accountant by profession, commands significant confidence within the party.

Multiple portfolios

Since 2017, Mr. Goyal has handled a range of portfolios, including Finance, Corporate Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Coal. Beyond his administrative roles, he has been one of the ruling party’s principal political negotiators.

Perhaps, his long tenure in the party and the government, along with his commerce background, was among the factors that prompted the BJP to appoint Mr. Goyal Finance Minister in January 2019, days ahead of the interim Budget.

The decision followed then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley travelling to the U.S. for medical treatment. “The orders issued by Prime Minister Modi made it clear that Piyush Goyal would work under the guidance of Arun Jaitley and all important files would be disposed of and decisions taken only after consulting Arun Jaitley,” former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg wrote in his book, We Also Make Policy.

Conventionally, no grand announcements are made during interim Budgets in an election year. Breaking the convention, Mr. Goyal announced income support for farmers with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), and an exemption on paying I-T tax for incomes up to ₹5 lakh.

Since the announcement of the U.S. trade deal, the government’s crisis manager has the task of addressing farmers’ concerns over the opening up of agriculture to the U.S.

For the second time this decade, he has been entrusted with reassuring farmers that their interests have been adequately protected. For context, Mr. Goyal was also part of the delegation that negotiated with protesting farmers seeking the repeal of the farm laws in 2020-21. (In November 2021, Prime Minister Modi announced that he would repeal the farm laws.)

This time, the trade deal is being slammed by its critics as one-sided. U.S. President Trump has said India would end buying oil from Russia, start “buying American” and open up sectors.

Mr. Goyal finds himself on the frontline as the government seeks to defend the deal and calm nerves. “Not a single farmer has anything to worry about” in the trade deal, Mr. Goyal told The Hindu in a recent interview.

But he also added he can’t comment on Mr. Trump’s remark that India would stop purchasing Russian oil. “I don’t deal with that subject. It is not part of my joint statement or the trade deal,” he said in the interview.