News
Build data portal for finance commission, says Panagariya – Business News
The government should create a data portal for data collected by the finance commission to bring “continuity”, Arvind Panagariya, chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, said at an event on Saturday.
Speaking at the 18th Statistics Day event, Panagariya said, “Someone (government agency) needs to take the lead to create the data portal on a permanent basis for the finance commission so that the work can be made easier in the future.”
He mentioned that since every finance committee has to start collecting data from scratch, a portal will solve the problem. The 16th Financial Commission was constituted in December 2023, and its members were appointed in January this year.
The 16th Finance Commission – the constitutional body that gives suggestions on Centre-State financial relations – will submit its report to the President for the five-year period (2026-27 to 2030-31) by October 31, 2025.
In accordance with its terms of reference, the body, in addition to suggesting tax devolution between the Centre and states and revenue raising measures, would review the current arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The 15th Finance Commission, under NK Singh, recommended that states should receive 41% of the Centre’s divisible tax fund during the five-year period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
However, at the event, Panagariya highlighted that among developing countries, India remains the only one to have reliable estimates of GDP and other indicators.
He also said the government must continue to craft data-driven policies to advance its development trajectory.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Statistics launched the “e-sankhyiki” portal, a central data repository, which aims to establish a comprehensive data management and sharing system to facilitate the dissemination of official statistics in the country.