FRBM Act

The Centre on Monday authorised the release of tax devolution of Rs 1,39,750 crore to states for June. It was decided that apart from the regular release of the devolution amount for the month of June 2024, one additional instalment will be released, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. "This cumulatively amounts to Rs 1,39,750 crore in the current month. This will enable State Governments to accelerate development and capital spending," it added. Currently, 41 per cent of taxes collected by the Centre is devolved in 14 instalments among states during a fiscal year. The Interim Budget 2024-25 has a provision of Rs 12,19,783 crore towards the devolution of taxes to states. With this release, the total amount devolved (for FY 2024-25) to states till June 10, 2024, is Rs 2,79,500 crore, it added.

The Meghalaya cabinet on Thursday approved the amendment to a law, which will enable the state to increase borrowings by up to Rs 400 crore this year. After chairing the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the council of ministers green-lighted the amendment to the Meghalaya Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2006. "The Act was also amended last year as per GoI's (Government of India) permission to allow states to increase the budget borrowings based on reforms taken by states on an annual basis. "Last year based on the reforms taken by various departments, our borrowing limit was increased by 4 per cent and for this year, based on the power reforms there will be 0.5 per cent increase in the budget borrowing," Sangma said on X, formerly Twitter. It would allow the government to increase borrowings by up to Rs 400 crore, the chief minister said, The cabinet also approved the proposal for the "adaptation of NCERT textbooks with modifications in certain

The Finance Ministry is likely to stick to its internal fiscal consolidation roadmap

Former finance commission chairman calls for having a fiscal council to debate policy issues

The net borrowing ceiling of states is mandated by the FRBM Act. However, the upper limit of what their contingent liabilities can be is set by states' own legislative bodies

Among other things, making the direct tax regime less confusing and bringing in expenditure reform are crucial challenges for the central government

For two years running, the finance ministry has excused itself from providing a projection of its fiscal consolidation plan

While the Centre has an escape clause to deviate from the fiscal consolidation road map by 0.5 percentage point of GDP in times of exigency, states were not given any such escape clause

The Centre's current deficit glide path reveals a conservative stance on growth

Budget 2021 must overhaul the existing FRBM Act to set feasible targets on deficit and debt

Centre may have to amend FRBM Act once again to achieve this, which isn't an issue as such an amendment does not require a two-third or three-fourth majority

Strengthening the revenue forecasting system will yield better results than fixing deficit targets within a range

The 15th Finance Commission Chairman had pushed for a range instead of a fixed number, saying it is more realistic and will lead to less accounting engineering

The state gets additional elbow of Rs 35,000 crore amid lockdown

If we turn protectionist, I don't know how can we be an exporting power. Self-sufficient exporting powerhouse is an oxymoron," he said.

Addressing a webinar organised by EY India, Subramanian further said while labour reforms were necessary, the way they have been done by some states have undermined basic protections to workers

The motto of the government earlier was "jaan hai to jahaan hai", but now it is "jaan bhi jahaan bhi", the PM said

It has already exhausted the escape clause, which allows for a maximum deviation of 0.5% from consolidation road map

Budget estimates fiscal deficit to be at 3.4%, within permissible limit of FRBM target

However, the finance minister has achieved a "balancing act" through her moves, Goyal said