Arun Jaitley was born on December 28, 1952 in New Delhi to Maharaj Kishen Jaitley, who was a lawyer and social activist Ratan Prabha. Arun studied at St. Xavier’s School, New Delhi from 1957–69. Later, Arun graduated in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. Further in 1977, Arun passed his Law degree from the University of Delhi. Jaitley has been married to Sangeeta Jaitley, who is daughter of Former Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister Girdhari Lal Dogra, since 24 May 1982 and have two children, a son named Rohan and a daughter named Sonali.
Arun Jaitley was active as Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader in the Delhi University Campus and became the President of the Students Union of Delhi University. He was under preventive detention for a period of 19 months in the period of Internal Emergency during 1975–77.
Arun Jaitley has been a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1980 and is member of executive committee from 1991. Jaitley was spokesperson of the BJP during the period before the 1999 general election. When the Vajpayee Government of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance came to power in 1999, Jaitley was appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting. Further, he became Minister of State for Disinvestment according to the World Trade Organisation guidelines. Due to the resignation of Ram Jethmalani as the Union Cabinet Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Arun Jaitley was given the additional charge of the same and was promoted to be the Cabinet Minister subsequently in 2000. After a brief stint as General Secretary of the BJP and its national spokesman 2002, Jaitley joined the Union Cabinet as the Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice again in 2003. Jaitley returned to the BJP organization work as a general secretary, and back to his legal practice when National Democratic Alliance was defeated in May 2004. The newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi selected Jaitley to be the Minister of Finance, Corporate Affair and Minister of Defence in his cabinet in May 2014. But, more than his role as the minister, Arun Jaitley is of prime importance and invaluable to BJP as the strategic planner of the organization.