FRBM Committee present report to Arun Jaitley

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Committee, headed by N.K. Singh, former Revenue and Expenditure Secretary and former Member of Parliament, presented its report to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday in his office in North Block in the national capital.

Other members of the committee including Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Sumit Bose, former Finance Secretary, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser and Dr. Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) were also present on the occasion. The Government will examine the report and take appropriate action.

Earlier, the government had constituted a committee in May, 2016 to review the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act under the Chairmanship of N.K. Singh, former Revenue and Expenditure Secretary and former Member of Parliament. The committee consisted of Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shri Sumit Bose, former Finance Secretary, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser and Dr. Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) as members.

The Committee had wide ranging Terms of Reference (ToR) to comprehensively review the existing FRBM Act in the light of contemporary changes, past outcomes, global economic developments, best international practices and to recommend the future fiscal framework and roadmap for the country.

Subsequently, the Terms of Reference were enlarged to seek the committee's views on certain recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission and the Expenditure Management Commission. These primarily related to strengthening the institutional framework on fiscal matters as well as certain issues connected with new capital expenditures in the budget.

The Committee held extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. It also received inputs from eminent national and international organisations and domain experts. The Committee also held interactions with various Ministries of Government of India as well as with the State Governments.