The terms of reference of this report are pretty
wide ranging. It starts from the traditional issue of
distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the
centre and state, evolving and suggesting the principles
for granting aid with regard to central assistance to
states. Also, augmenting the resources of the states
themselves with regard to local bodies like Panchayats
and municipalities and one of the key additional terms
of reference, which was added for this commission a year
later after it was set up in November 2007, was
suggesting a new FRBM roadmap for five-year period
beginning 2010 till 2015.
This commission has also been asked to consider
and analyze the impact of the proposed goods and
services tax (GST) on India’s foreign trade. Two reports
of the commission have already been made public. One was
a taskforce report and the other was a study on the GST.
So, all in all, this is going to be a very significant
milestone in India’s public sector finances.
The report is unlikely to be made available for
public viewing at this stage because once it is
presented to the President under the requirements of the
Constitution Article 280, it is going to be passed on to
the Government of India. Given that we are right now at
a stage where the Union Budget is around 60 days away,
several of the key recommendations are probably going to
make it to the budget.
It is essentially upto the Finance Ministry to
decide when and where to public. It is possibly going to
happen on the floor Parliament. And since the next
session is only the budget session, we will probably
only be able to look at the fine print on and around
that time.
