Members of the Finance Commission have held consultations with senior officials of the Ministry of Finance on the overall economic situation in the country and key economic variables.
An official statement issued on Thursday said the Commission observed that GDP numbers have somewhat fluctuated within the overall global trend. This suggests a continued high growth trend over the medium term.
The Commission also noted that revenue projections on direct taxes are healthy. However, on indirect taxes, there have been periodic fluctuations.
On the expenditure trend, there were discussions in regard to the rationalisation of centrally-sponsored schemes in sync with the new life cycle.
"The discussions on key economic variables are also expected to help the Commission's work to reach a conclusion on horizontal and vertical devolutions," said the statement.
The meeting on Wednesday was attended by the Finance Commission's Chairman Ajay Narayan Jha and member Anoop Singh, Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Expenditure Secretary Girish Chandra Murmu, Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian, CBDT Chairman P C Mody and CBIC Chairman P K Das.
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In the past few months, there have been discussions on issues of importance relating to the UDAY scheme and 7th Pay Commission, particularly in the context of state finances.
The economic development in the past five years was analysed in detail with a specific focus on growth, investments, industrial production, banking and payments, inflation and monetary policy, external sector and medium-term outlook.
The ministry made its projections for 2018-19 and 2019-20 to the commission.
The ministry and the commission had a detailed discussion on fiscal management in which the ministry put up several suggestions. Discussions were also held on GST issues, local body grants and population data.
The commission is now awaiting full memorandum of the government through the Finance Ministry.
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