A National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) team is on a five-day visit to Assam to study state finances.
The study will be conducted for a 10-year Perspective Plan (2016 to 2026) along with structural and institutional reforms in public finance.
The team, headed by Rothin Roy, met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today to apprise him about the pre-study consultations it would have with state government officials of different departments, members of the fifth Assam State Finance Commission, representatives and officials of all autonomous councils during the visit, an official release said.
During the discussions, Gogoi told the team members about how the state has been strictly adhering to a slew of fiscal discipline and management measures to augment its resources in the backdrop of the Centre's alleged retrogressive steps to choke the flow of funds to it.
The NIPFP team will study the trend of revenue generation and suggest measures to augment the resources in the light of new policy of central government after advent of Niti Aayog and post 14th Finance Commission Award.
It will study and recommend to the state government on how to reduce wasteful expenditure and plug loopholes/leakages and ways and means to raise resources, the release said.
The team will study the pattern of expenditure and suggest measures for public expenditure reforms as well as make evaluation and targeting of subsidies by the state.
It will also study the impact of state-level public sector enterprises on their finances and measures to be adopted for improving their performances besides the current status of various decentralization initiatives including transfer made to rural, urban local bodies, VI schedule areas and autonomous councils.
A study on the impact of power sector reforms on state finances will also be undertaken and suggest suitable measures for sustained development.
NIPFP, a body registered under the Ministry of Finance with state governments on its board of directors, has been given a time frame of 18 months for completion of the study, the release added.
