The Finance Commission is a constitutionally mandated body established once every 5 yrs to devise a formula for distributing net tax proceeds between the Centre and the states
New Delhi, NFAPost: The government has appointed three full-time and one part-time member of the 16th Finance Commission which was constituted on December 31, 2023.
The full-time members appointed include Ajay Narayan Jha, a former member of 15th Finance Commission and former secretary of Expenditure, Annie George Mathew, former special secretary of Expenditure, and Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, executive director of Artha Global. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor of State Bank of India has been appointed as the part-time member of the 16th Finance Commission.
“The Sixteenth Finance Commission has been requested to make its recommendations available by October 31, 2025, covering an award period of 5 years commencing 1st April, 2026,” a press statement by the Ministry of Finance said.
The government had appointed former NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya as the chairman of the panel and bureaucrat Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey was named its secretary.
The Finance Commission is a constitutionally mandated body established once every five years to devise a formula for distributing net tax proceeds between the Centre and the states as well as among states and local bodies. Currently, India shares 41 per cent of federal taxes with states as recommended by the 15th panel.
The Commission would also review the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The erstwhile 15th Finance Commission, under NK Singh, had recommended that states be given 41 per cent of the divisible tax pool of the Centre during the five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26, which is at the same level as was recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
