Maharashtra considering shifting to calendar fiscal

To curb the practise of last minute additional submissions for expenditure, Maharashtra government is considering shifting to January 1 to December 31 as the financial year instead of the current April-March.
An official from the state finance department said a team from the department had been entrusted with researching the financial year period followed by 29 countries and top 50 global companies and merits and demerits of both systems.
Based on preliminary findings of the team, a committee, headed by D K Jain, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) and consisting of V Giriraj (Principal Secretary) and Mita Lochan (Secretary) will submit a report to the state Finance Minister.

"The Constitution does not define the financial year and it is thus possible to change the period as per our convenience," the official said.
Countries such as Austria, Brazil, China, Germany, Netherlands and Russia follow the calendar year.
Financial year in India, UK, Canada, Singapore, etc., starts from April 1. That of Pakistan, Egypt, New Zealand and some other countries starts on July 1, the officer added.

"Some departments indulge in last-minute additional submissions for expenditure before the Budget is presented (in March). This needs to change. There needs to be a tab on last minute expenditure," the official said, explaining the rationale for considering a shift to the calendar year.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the idea is at a primary stage.
"We have set up a committee....We will take views of political parties and stake-holders into consideration before introducing any change," Mungantiwar said, adding that the corporate sector will have the freedom to choose which period it wants to adopt as financial year.