Centre, states may welcome N K Singh's plan for fiscal deficit 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

Earlier this month, Fifteenth Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh aroused the interest of policy watchers when he said that the Commission is considering suggestions on having a fiscal deficit target range instead of a fixed number.

After the final meeting of 15th FC’s economic advisory council, Singh had said that there were discussions around the need to fundamentally revisit the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, under which the centre gives a single number as the fiscal deficit target as percentage of nominal gross domestic product. The target for 2020-21 is 3.5 per cent of GDP.

“There is merit looking at