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Arvind Panagariya
The government has extended the tenure of the 16th Finance Commission by one month till November 30. The 16th Finance Commission was constituted by the government on December 31, 2023, with former Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya as its Chairman. The report by the panel was due by October 31. The Commission will mainly make recommendations on the distribution of taxes between the Centre and states for a 5-year period starting April 1, 2026. The Finance Ministry, in a notification dated October 10, said that the date for submission of the 16th Finance Commission report is being extended till November 30. The Commission has four members and is assisted by Secretary Ritvik Pandey, two joint secretaries and one economic advisor. Retired bureaucrat Annie George Mathew and economist Manoj Panda are full-time members of the Commission, while SBI Group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh and RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar are part-time members. Besides suggesting tax .
Dismissing US President Donald Trump's "dead economy" jibe, 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Friday said the Indian economy is growing at 7 per cent, and more than that in dollar terms. Panagariya was speaking at the Business Today India@100 event. "You don't grow at 7 per cent plus (if the economy is dead), and actually in dollar terms we are growing at more than 7 per cent. I don't know what the definition (of dead economy) means. May be, dead bodies do move," he said when asked if India is a dead economy. Asked about India's trade protectionism, Panagariya said: "There may be protectionist measures... We are substantially open". Mounting a sharp attack on India, Trump had remarked that India is a "dead economy". "I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care," Trump had said in a social media post on July 31. Trump later imposed 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods imported to the US with a brief .
Chairman of the Sixteenth Finance Commission Dr. Arvind Panagariya on Monday said the commission will submit its report to the central government by October 31. Panagariya said this in a meeting of the commission held here with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The chairman praised Uttarakhand for moving ahead rapidly on the development front and said that in view of the difficult geographical conditions, extensive discussions will be held to find solutions to the challenges being faced by other hill states, including Uttarakhand. Earlier in the meeting, CM Dhami presented his views on the financial situation, challenges and development needs of the state. He requested the Finance Commission to provide suitable compensation in keeping with the spirit of 'environmental federalism' in view of Uttarakhand's 'eco service cost', increase the weightage of forest cover in 'tax-devolution' to 20 per cent and consider special grants for proper management and conservation of forests in the
India will come out stronger from the ongoing tariff uncertainty and a bilateral trade deal with the US will place the country "incredibly favourably" in global trading equation, 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Friday. He said the trade restrictions by the US on China, Vietnam, and Cambodia will place India in a favourable position in the context of global trade. "The US clearly wants to decouple from China. US-China trade conflict is here to stay... There has been a long history of this sense within the United States that China has operated rather unfairly," he said, adding that the challenges that India will face on the trade front will become clear in the next three months. "India, itself, if it actually successfully negotiates a trade agreement with the United States, which I think also will open a door little wider to having an agreement with the European Union and United Kingdom, that will place India in global trade equation incredibly favourably,"
Southern states, where fertility rates have fallen well below replacement levels, face problematic increases in dependency ratios and ageing populations in the longer run, said Sixteenth Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Wednesday. The Commission embarked on a four-day tour of Andhra Pradesh from April 15 to 18 and held wide-ranging deliberations with the TDP-led NDA government today at the Secretariat. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, seeking funds for the state, gave a detailed presentation to the Commission. Panagariya, addressing a press conference, noted that Naidu argued there is a need to look beyond the yardstick of rewarding states for bringing down total fertility rate to replacement level. "Southern states in particular, where fertility rates have fallen well below replacement levels, face problematic increases in dependency ratios and ageing populations in the longer run," he said. He observed that Andhra Pradesh has recommended increas
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) K Sanjay Murthy on Wednesday held consultations with Chairman of 16th Finance Commission Arvind Panagariya on various aspects of public finance, including untapped revenue sources, GST administration, and standardisation of accounting practices in all tiers. The high-level consultation formed a critical part of the commission's ongoing assessment of the financial landscape of the Centre and states, the CAG office said in a release. The deliberations mainly focused on three key areas - Union and state finances, local bodies, and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs). The Union, the states, local bodies and the PSEs are under the audit of the CAG. In addition, the CAG maintains the accounts of the states. The CAG shared various audit findings for the Union and states in different sectors, fiscal challenges and stress points, including the gap between expenditure and non-debt receipts for the Union and states combined. The key areas of concer
The 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Saturday said India's aim to become a developed nation by 2047 is a "realisable ambition" for which the country's per-capita income needs to grow at 7.3 per cent in dollar terms to USD 14,000 over the next 24 years. India's per-capita income, in 2023-24 dollar terms, is about USD 2,570, which is very low compared to countries like South Korea, Taiwan, United States, and other European nations. Speaking at the 49th Civil Accounts Day, Panagariya said with the existing technology, coupled with reasonable capital accumulation and skill acquisition, India has enormous room for catching up with the per-capita income of developed nations and meet World Bank's definition of USD 14,005 per capita income annually. Today, our per capita income in dollars is about USD 2,500. To get to USD 14,000 in 24 years or by 2047-48, what growth rate do I need for per capita income? my per capita income from 2023-24 onward has to grow annually at
The Odisha government on Thursday requested Rs 12.59 lakh crore from the 16th Finance Commission and sought an increase in the state's share of the central divisible pool to 50 per cent from the current 41 per cent. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi made the request during a meeting with the Finance Commission team, led by Chairman Aravind Panagariya, emphasising that the demand was crucial for the state's development, particularly as it aims to become one of the country's developed states by 2036, marking its centenary. Addressing a press conference, Panagariya said many states including Odisha have demanded increasing their share to 50 per cent from the central divisible pool. The 16th Finance Commission is mandated to submit its report with the President of India in October 2025 and make its recommendation after visiting 28 states and taking views of all the stakeholders. "The commission has visited several states and held consultations. Maximum states demanded an increase in the
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Monday sought 'tailored' support from the 16th Finance Commission in view of the Himalayan state's unique challenges, achievements and aspirations. The full team of the 16th Finance Commission, led by its chairman Arvind Panagariya, met the Sikkim chief minister at the state secretariat. "I emphasised Sikkim's unique challenges, achievements and aspirations while calling for tailored support from the 16th Finance Commission to ensure sustainable growth for our people", Tamang said in a social media post after meeting Panagariya and the members of the Finance Commission team. Tamang said that he highlighted Sikkim's remarkable progress, including the highest per capita income in the region, significant growth rates, and the state's role as a global custodian of biodiversity and a hub for climate change mitigation to seek additional financial support from the 16th Finance Commission. The Sikkim CM also underlined critical challenges like roa
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.
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 ...
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 .