NEW DELHI, 31 Dec: The government on Sunday appointed former NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya as the chairman of the 16th Finance Commission (FC).
Finance Ministry Joint Secretary Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey will be the secretary to the commission, the government said in a notification.
“The president is pleased to constitute a finance commission with Dr Arvind Panagariya, former vice-chairman, NITI Aayog and professor, Columbia University, as the cvhairman. Members of the commission will be notified separately,” it said.
The commission will submit its report for the five-year period (2026-’27 to 2030-’31) to the President by 31 October, 2025.
The union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last month approved the terms of reference (ToR) of the 16th FC.
Besides suggesting tax devolution between the Centre and states and revenue augmentation measures, the commission will review the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The FC is a constitutional body that gives suggestions on centre-state financial relations.
The erstwhile 15th FC 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 FC. (PTI)