Arvind Panagariya

Southern states urge 16th FC to address cess and surcharge impact

Finance Commissions use different yardsticks to recommend transfer of funds from the Centre to the states. These generally are income distance, population, area, etc

Finance Commission open to view alternate index for devolution: Panagariya

The Finance Commission is open to considering alternate index for devolution of funds to states with regard to natural calamities and state-specific issues, Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission Arvind Panagariya said here on Monday. The problems arising due to natural disasters were beginning to get more and more acute, he said and pointed out that the 15th Finance Commission has recommended partial devolution of funds. "The Commission is very much open to looking at alternate ways of measuring disaster relief, provided we can do it across all the states. The index has to be transparent and acceptable," Panagariya told reporters after a long session with the Tamil Nadu government earlier in the day. Apart from Tamil Nadu, states like Himachal Pradesh which the Finance Commission had consulted, put forth a similar view. "Let me look into it if any particular type of disaster is not included," the Chairman said. Also, he said that gap between the richer and poorer states widened.

Local rural bodies should raise their own resources, says Arvind Panagariya

Several states do not have proper state finance commissions (SFCs) for fund distribution to urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions

16th Finance Commission team arrives in Nagaland on three day visit

Members of the 16th Finance Commission arrived in Nagaland on Monday on a three-day visit, an official said. The Finance Commission team comprising chairman Arvind Panagriya and members Ajay Narayan Jha, Annie George Mathew and Manoj Panda was received at Dimapur Airport by Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton and Chief Secretary J Alam. During the three-day stay, the Finance Commission team would hold a closed-door meeting with the chief minister, ministers and senior officers in Kohima on Tuesday. Other than the funds provided to the state through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), the state government is likely to present to the Commission, demands for grants-in-aid for the next five years, amounting to nearly Rs one lakh crore on various sectors, the official said. The sectors include revenue deficit grants, funds for local governments to empower the rural and urban local bodies, sector specific grants to supplement expenditures in sectors such as education and health and also ...

Finance Commission would listen to views of all, says chairman Panagariya

The 16th Finance Commission is open to listening to the views of all states and consider all possibilities, including their grievance on facing a cut in central allocations despite better performance on the economy front, the Commission's Chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Tuesday. Panagariya, who is on a visit to Telangana along with the other members of the Commission as part of the panel's state visits, said it was expected that better-performing states would generally say that (they faced a reduction in central allocations). "That (states which made progress saying their allocations declined) is to be expected. At least so far, what we have seen, in two of the states, Karnataka and Telangana, we have heard that," the economist told reporters here. Asked for his response to the issue, he said, "The Commission is open to listening to everything. The Commission will think about all possibilities. What we will do in the end, I can't tell, because I don't know". The Commission had .

Balance equity with efficiency: Siddaramaiah to 16th Finance Commission

Economically advanced States are committed to supporting poorer States, but this should not come at the expense of their own residents or economic efficiency, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Thursday. In his address to Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission Arvind Panagariya and its members at a meeting here, he said the panel needs to carefully examine the impact of extremely high emphasis given to equity on the incentives of well performing states. "Moreover, the taxpayers of such states expect their taxes to work for them. This creates public trust. The Finance Commission therefore needs to do a tightrope walk while balancing equity with efficiency and performance," Siddaramaiah said. Noting that cesses and surcharges are not part of the divisible pool, the Chief Minister said over the years, the Union Government has increased its reliance on them. This has led to the divisible pool not growing in the same proportion as the Gross Tax Revenue, he said. This has cau

Experts call for civil service overhaul as govt pulls back on lateral hires

N K Singh, echoing similar sentiment said that the necessity of a permanent civil service needs to be put on the drawing board while ensuring that stability is not jeopardised

16th FC Chair Panagariya calls for permanent data portal for continuity

He said that each finance commission has to start the work on data afresh and a data portal will resolve that issue and bring continuity

'Finance Commission to tackle issues of freebies, green cover compensation'

The 16th Finance Commission would address the issues pertaining to the distribution of freebies and compensation for providing green cover, Chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Monday. Speaking with reporters here after deliberations with the Himachal Pradesh government, Panagariya said that expectations and needs of the state have been discussed and a 90-slide presentation was given by the officials which emphasized that the cost of everything is much higher in the state due to its difficult terrain. Replying to a question, the chairman said, "The issue of freebies would also be addressed by the commission as we are aware that freebies have proliferated and there is a competition among the states and the political parties to give freebies.. It is pertinent to mention that the Congress government in the state had promised to give Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age bracket of 18 to 59 years in its poll manifesto released on the eve of the last assembly polls held in 2022. He said

Strong economic base to help new govt make India a developed nation by 2047

India's world record beating economic growth rate together with robust tax revenues, a fast expanding digital and financial infrastructure and a strong manufacturing sector will give the new government a base for unleashing next generation reforms that may make the country a developed nation by 2047. The new government will however have to tackle with problems like unemployment and rural distress, which seemed to have played a major role in voting pattern in states like Uttar Pradesh, while also keeping inflation under control. Given that no party, including BJP, have a clear majority of its own, tough reforms like big ticket privatisation and labour law reforms may take a backseat. As per the available trends, BJP is likely to win about 240 seats in a 543- member Lok Sabha. It would have to rely on its allies like TDP and JDU to form the next government. The new government will have to build upon the 8.2 per cent GDP growth recorded in 2023-24 and carry on with the reforms to make

FY24 GDP growth of 8.2% is great news for India: Arvind Panagariya

The 16th Finance Commission chairman Arvind Panagariya on Friday said GDP growth at 8.2 per cent for 2023-24 is a "great news for India". "As predicted, the GDP growth rate for 2023-24 crossed the 8% mark and lands at a comfortable 8.2%. Great news for India!!," Panagariya said in a post on X. According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) data released on Friday, India's economy grew at a four-quarter low of 7.8 per cent in the March quarter. The economy grew 8.2 per cent in the June quarter, 8.1 per cent in the September quarter, and 8.6 per cent in the December quarter. The GDP expanded at 8.2 per cent in 2023-24 fiscal, higher than 7 per cent recorded in 2022-23. ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said the sequential slowdown in GDP growth was driven by investment activity, even as private consumption maintained a bland 4 per cent rise and government consumption expenditure turned around to a mild growth from a contraction. "With transient factors likely to dampen growth in

LS polls: Arvind Panagariya says excited to cast vote for first time

16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Friday said he is excited to exercise his franchise for the first time on Saturday. "The world is divided between those who have voted and those who have not. Tomorrow, I get to migrate from the latter to the former group. Truly excited to cast my first-ever vote!!," He said in a post on X. Polling for Lok Sabha elections is scheduled in Delhi for Saturday. To a query by an X user on whether Panagariya has given up his US citizenship or if he was always an Indian citizen but never in India at the time of elections, the finance commission chairman said: "It is the latter". Panagariya is a Professor of Economics and the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. He was appointed chairman of the 16th Finance Commission on December 31 last year. From January 2015 to August 2017, he served as the first Vice Chairman of the Niti Aayog. In March 2012, Panagariya was honoured with Padma Bhushan -- t

India could be the third largest economy by 2026-27, says Arvind Panagariya

Panagariya stressed that in order to achieve this, it was important to reform labour laws and for markets to release capital to more labour-intensive industries

Growth could reach 9% with reforms in 5 years, says Arvind Panagariya

India can realistically push its economic growth close to 9 per cent from the current 7 per cent or so, by implementing a few more reforms in the next five years, Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission Arvind Panagariya said on Wednesday. Panagariya said Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked hard over the past 10 years to make India a friendly place for businesses, so investment is coming in. "Today, the economy is open. In the next 2-3 decades, we can sustain a very rapid growth," he said, while speaking at the Times Now Summit. India's economy grew at better-than-expected 8.4 per cent in the third quarter of FY24 -- the fastest in the past one-and-a-half years. "India is currently growing in real rupees at about 7 per cent or so per year. "Certainly with a few more reforms in the next five years, we can realistically push it to close to 9 per cent, certainly somewhere at 8-9 per cent and that can be sustained easily for a couple of decades," the economist said. Responding to a .

Under-employment a problem for India: Panagariya as he pitches for reforms

Pitching for labour reforms, the chairman of the 16th Finance Commission and former NITI Aayog Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Saturday said that "unemployment," is not a problem for India but "under-employment" is. Speaking at a session 'The Economic Whisper: how to fuel growth with jobs' at the concluding day of the two-day ABP Network's 'Ideas of India Summit 3.0' here, he also sounded optimistic that the jobs problem in the country will be solved over the next 10 years. "Unemployment is really not India's problem in my view. Our problem is underemployment, so productivity is low. So the job that can be done by one person often gets done by two people or maybe three people. And that is where I think, the real challenge of jobs is creating well-paid high-productivity jobs," he said. Stating that in the economy's jargon, India is a labour-abundant and capital-scarce country, he said, "What we have done is to put much of the capital in very selective sectors which are in any case very

16th FC chairman Panagariya warns against pitfalls of import substitution

On why countries with low per-capita incomes, such as India, must focus on exports, Panagariya explained how the global export market was worth $32 trillion in 2022, almost ten times India's GDP

FM Sitharaman meets 16th Finance Commission chairman Arvind Panagariya

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya. The meeting came within two days of the first meeting of the commission in which the members and the chairman discussed the terms of reference. Full-time members of the commission are former expenditure secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, retired bureaucrat Annie George Mathew, and Artha Global Executive Director Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, while SBI Group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh is a part-time member. "Shri @APanagariya, Chairman - 16th Finance Commission, calls on Smt @nsitharaman," Sitharaman's office said in a post on X. The commission, chaired by former vice chairman of Niti Aayog Panagariya, will be assisted by Secretary Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey, two joint secretaries and one economic advisor, in its functioning. The government constituted the commission under the chairmanship of Panagariya on December 31, 2023. The panel would submit its report to the President by Octobe

16th Finance Commission: Chairman Panagariya discusses ToR in first meet

The Finance Commission is a constitutionally-mandated body established once every five years to devise a formula for distributing net tax proceeds between the Centre and the states

Govt appoints Arvind Panagariya as chairman of 16th Finance Commission

D K Srivastava, a member of the 12th Finance Commission, said Panagariya is well suited for the job as he has a very good understanding of the Indian economy and looked after the Niti Aayog

Former NITI Aayog VC Arvind Panagariya to lead 16th Finance Commission

Joint Secretary in the finance ministry Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey will be the secretary to the commission, the government said in a notification.