Sixteenth Finance Commission constitutes advisory council

New Delhi: The Sixteenth Finance Commission (SFC) has constituted an advisory council consisting of eminent economists D.K. Srivastava, Poonam Gupta, Pranjal Bhandari, Rahul Bajirao and Neelkanth Mishra.

It will advise the commission on Terms of Reference (ToR) and other related subjects of relevance, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Poonam Gupta will be the Convenor of the Advisory Council whose role will also be to assist the Commission in the preparation of papers/ research studies and to monitor or assess studies commissioned by the Finance Commission, thereby enhancing the Commission's understanding of the issues in its ToR.

The advisory council will also help broaden the Commission's ambit and understanding by seeking the best national and international practices on matters pertaining to fiscal devolution and improving the quality, reach, and enforcement of its recommendations, the finance ministry statement added.

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The SFC, chaired by economist Arvind Panagariya, is tasked with defining the distribution of the Centre’s tax revenue to states for five years starting FY27.

It will also ensure that states have efficient systems and measures in place for financing local bodies as advised by the state finance commissions.

The SFC will suggest steps to augment the states’ consolidated funds for panchayats and municipalities and review national and state disaster management funds.

The government has kept the ‘terms of reference’ of the commission short, giving the SFC the flexibility to make recommendations governing sharing of tax revenue within constitutional limits.

Former expenditure secretary and member of the 15th Finance Commission, A.N. Jha, former special secretary of the department of expenditure Annie George Mathew, and Manoj Panda, former director of Institute of an economics growth, have been appointed as full-time members of the SFC.