NEW DELHI: The government has appointed four full-time members for the 16th Finance Commission.
They include Ajay Narayan Jha, former member, 15th Finance Commission and former secretary, expenditure, ministry of finance; Annie George Mathew, former special secretary, of expenditure; Dr. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, executive director, Artha Global; and Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Advisor, State Bank of India.
Earlier, the government had appointed former vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya as the Chairman of 16th Finance Commission.
Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey, who is joint secretary in the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, has been appointed as the secretary to the Commission.
The chairman and other members of the commission will hold office from the date on which they respectively assume office up to the date of submission of report or 31 October 2025, whichever is earlier.
The Finance Commission has been entrusted with the responsibility of making recommendations on several crucial matters.
Firstly, it will determine the distribution of net proceeds of taxes between the Union and the States as per Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution. Additionally, the commission will allocate respective shares of such proceeds among the States.
The commission will set up the principles governing grants-in-aid from the Consolidated Fund of India to the States. These grants will assist the states in their revenue requirements as specified in Article 275 of the Constitution, excluding the purposes mentioned in the provisos to clause (1) of the article.
The Finance Commission will also focus on measures to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State in order to supplement the resources of Panchayats and Municipalities within the State.
These measures will be based on the recommendations made by the respective State's Finance Commission.
Besides this, the commission has been tasked with reviewing the existing arrangements regarding the financing of Disaster Management initiatives. The commission is expected to present its comprehensive report by October 31, 2025, covering a period of five years commencing from April 1, 2026.