June 05, 2019

By Vijay Kumar

THE Finance Minister who launched GST, Mr. Arun Jaitley is succeeded by Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, fondly referred to as the second lady Finance Minister of the Country. When the idea of the GST Council emerged, maybe they had a vision that sometime in the future, there would be a lady Finance Minister and it would be embarrassing to call her the Chairman of the GST Council. Article 279A of the Constitution designates the Union Finance Minister as the chairperson of the GST Council, not Chairman. Apart from launching GST, Mr. Jaitley is credited with coining the phrase, "tax terrorism". Speaking in the Lok Sabha on 18 th July 2014, Mr. Jaitley said, "The whole regime of tax terrorism where civility had to be added to it, the problem was created by you." He was referring to the previous government. Launching the GST, Prime Minister Modi said it would put an end to tax terrorism. But tax terrorism seems to be intact. Let us hope the new Finance Minister ensures that it is reduced, if not eliminated.

There seems to be a lot of fuss about the lady Finance minister. What is special about a lady becoming the Finance Minister? That reminds me of an outstanding lady Finance Minister-Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the Star Finance Minister of Indonesia who became the Finance Minister in 2005. When she left the job to take up an assignment as the Managing Director of the World Bank in 2010, the Indonesian Stock Market collapsed. She came back as Finance Minister in 2016.

Just last week addressing senior officers of her ministry, she advised them:

1. Please be the adhesive for things that have been cracked.,

2. Please be the unifier of things that are currently scattered.,

3. Please be the coolants for things that some time ago felt warm and heated up.,

4. Please become a bridge for those who had been distant.,

5. Please clarify things that have become turbid lately., and

6. leaders certainly must be someone who provides a solution to the problem for this country.

Maybe, our FM would also have some such advice for the senior babus.

Running the Finance ministry is not an easy task. This is a huge maze, to understand which, will itself take a long time. Just have a look at the structure of the Ministry and what it is up to.

There are five departments each headed by a Secretary assisted by a couple of Additional Secretaries and many Joint Secretaries and other varieties and they all have secretaries to do secretarial work. Remember the scene in "Yes Minister", where the Secretary tries to tell the minister about the personnel in the ministry. He says, "Well briefly, Sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary; I too have a Principal Private Secretary and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are 10 Deputy Secretaries, 87 Under Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretary are plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing 2 Parliamentary Under Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary."

And the minister asks "Do they all type?"

Well, the five departments that Madam Sitharaman is going to handle are:

1. The Department of Revenue: This is the Department that is responsible for all the good deeds in the Goods and Services Tax administration. It exercises control in respect of matters relating to all the Direct and Indirect Union Taxes through two statutory Boards, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). Each Board is headed by a Chairman who is also ex-officio Special Secretary to the Government of India.

This Department administers inter alia-

- Central Economic Intelligence Bureau;

- Directorate of Enforcement;

- Central Bureau of Narcotics;

- Chief Controller of Factories;

- Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property;

- Income Tax Settlement Commission;

- Customs and Central Excise Settlement Commission;

- Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.

2. The Department of Expenditure is the nodal Department for overseeing the public financial management system in the Central Government and matters connected with state finances. It is responsible for the implementation of the recommendations of the Finance Commission and Central Pay Commission, monitoring of audit comments/observations, preparation of Central Government Accounts. It further assists central Ministries/Departments in controlling the costs and prices of public services, reviewing system and procedure to optimize outputs and outcomes of public expenditure. The principal activities of the Department include overseeing the expenditure management in the central Ministries/Departments through the interface with the Financial Advisers and the administration of the Financial Rules/Regulations/Orders, pre-sanction appraisal of major schemes/projects, handling bulk of the central budgetary resources transferred to State.

National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad, is under the administration of this Department.

3. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM): The Department of Disinvestment was set up as a separate Department on 10th December, 1999 and was later renamed as Ministry of Disinvestment in September, 2001. From May, 2004, the Department of Disinvestment is one of the Departments under the Ministry of Finance. The Department of Disinvestment has been renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) from 14th April, 2016.

This Department is responsible for-

4. Department of Economic Affairs: This Department deals with matters relating to-

1. Preparation of Union Budget, Supplementary Demand for Grants and Excess Grants, monitoring of the provisions of the Union Budget.

2. Preparation of UT Budget.

3. Borrowings, lending and Ways and Means of the Union Government.

4. Public Debt, including external debt and Debt Management Office.

5. Government Guarantees.

6. Non-Tax Revenues.

7. Laying of the Audit Reports before the Parliament under Article 151 of the Constitution.

8. Policy regarding Accounting and Audit procedures, including classification of transactions, and Accounting Standards.

9. Finance Commission and financial matters relating to reorganization of States.

10. Financial emergency.

11. Currency & Coinage.

12. Management of Foreign Exchange Resources.

13. Preparation of Economic Survey, Mid-year Economic Analysis, Indian Public Finance Statistics.

14. Securities market.

15. External Commercial Borrowings.

16. Small savings, including Public Provident Fund.

17. Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

18. Infrastructure: Development, Financing and Regulation.

19. Tax free bonds.

20. Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements.

21. Indian Overseas Direct Investment.

22. Foreign travel of Ministers of State Governments/Union Territories, Members of State Legislature/Union Territories and State Government Officials.

23. Multilateral Financial Institutions such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank, International Fund for Agriculture Development, Asian Development Bank, BRICS New Development Bank etc

24. Any other matter related to public finance not dealt with by any other Ministry/Department.

It has control over:

1. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd.

2. National Savings Institute.

3. Securities and Exchange Board of India.

4. Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Trust.

5. Department of Financial Services covers the functioning of Banks, Financial Institutions, Insurance Companies and the National Pension System. The Department manages the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) and the Stand Up India Scheme.

This Department deals with legislative and policy issues pertaining to the regulatory bodies like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). DFS also deals with the legislative framework relating to debt recovery. Matters relating to International Banking relations are also dealt by the Department.

WOW, that's a lot of government. The FM has also to take care of transfer of senior officers of all these departments, which itself is a gigantic task. It's a miracle how the Finance Ministers have survived this ordeal. Maybe the system is unfair to the Finance Ministers, for the sheer load of work they have to carry, compared to, maybe the minister for tourism or skill development.

It's a tough task ahead for Ms Nirmala Sitharaman. Let's wish her all the best.

Until next week