NK Singh Appointed Chairman of 15th Finance Commission

The commission will, among other things, look into the impact of the GST and recommend additional reforms.

Singh is a former member of the Rajya Sabha and has served on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@NKSingh_MP)

Former expenditure and revenue secretary NK Singh will head the 15th Finance Commission, the government said in a notification on Monday, 27 November.

Other members will include former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Anoop Singh, Non-Executive Chairman at Bandhan Bank Ashok Lahiri, and Niti Aayog Member Ramesh Chand, according to the notification. Arvind Mehta will be the Secretary to the commission.

The finance commission is set up every five years and reviews finances, deficit and debt levels of the central government and states. The panel also suggests devolution of taxes between states and the centre.

The other members of the commission include former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and former Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri. 

The government has budgeted Rs 10 crore in the current financial year for the constitution of 15th Finance Commission, according to 2017-18 Budget document. The commission will submit its report to the government on 30 October 2019, and it’s suggestions will be implemented for a period of five years starting 1 April 2020.

The commission will make recommendations to the government on:

• Distribution of net taxes between states and the central government.
• Principles that should govern grants given to states from Consolidated Fund of India.
• Measures needed to augment the consolidated fund of a state to supplement resources of panchayat and municipalities.
• Review current status of finance, deficit, debt levels and fiscal discipline efforts of the central government and states
• Recommend a fiscal consolidation roadmap for sound fiscal management, taking into account the responsibility of the central and state governments to adhere to appropriate levels of general and consolidated government debt and deficit level.
• Impact of GST, including payment of compensation for revenue loss incurred by states in first five years of GST’s implementation, abolition of number of cesses, and earmarking compensation for other structural reforms, among others.

The commission may consider performance-based incentives for states for efforts to expand the tax net under GST. It will also look into progress made by states in increasing capital expenditure, eliminating losses for power sector, and progress made in ease of doing business, among others.

Singh was chair of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management panel, which had submitted its report to the government in January. The government is yet to adopt changes recommended by this committee whose members included Arvind Subramanian, Urjit Patel, Sumit Bose and Rathin Roy.

He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Bihar and has served on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and the Committee on Local Area Development Scheme, the Public Accounts Committee, the Consultative Committee on Finance, according to Singh’s website.

(This article was originally published on BloombergQuint.)

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