The Jawaharlal Nehru University conferred her the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019.[40] Forbes Magazine has ranked her 34th among the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2019.[41] Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister wins the Business Reformer of the year award at The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2021. In 2023, ranked at number 32, Sitharaman has made it to the list of Forbes Magazine's 100 most powerful women in the world for the fifth time in a row. In 2022, the minister was ranked at number 36 in the list, while she was in the 37th spot in 2021 and 41st in 2020 respectively.