By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 14, 2020: THE sixth meeting of Advisory Council to the Fifteenth Finance Commission was held yesterday. The meeting was chaired by Mr N.K. Singh, Chairman, XVFC and attended by the Members of the XVFC, Members of the Advisory Council, other special invitees and eminent scholars. The agenda of the meeting included the following.

1. Seeking the views of the participants on the report of the XV-FC for the year 2020-21, the formula for horizontal devolution of Central taxes and other recommendations contained in the Report.

2. Views on the outlook for nominal GDP growth for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, tax buoyancy and other macro-economic parameters relevant for the commission for the aforesaid period.

While discussing about the framework for vertical and horizontal devolution of taxes, the methodological innovations made in the Report were favourably commented upon. The options for nominal GDP growth and resource mobilization, as well as, the downsides and upsides to different possibilities therein were discussed in detail, particularly in the light of emerging global trends and patterns discernible in high-frequency, domestic indicators. The centrality of strengthening the administration and technology platform of GST in ensuring fiscal balance of the Centre and the States was also emphasised.

Apart from the Chairman, Members and the officers of the XVFC and the Members of the Advisory Council, namely, Dr. Indira Rajaraman, Dr. Arvind Virmani, Dr M. Govinda Rao, Dr Prachi Mishra, Dr Sudipto Mundle and Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the meeting was also attended by eminent bureaucrats and scholars like Dr. Bibek Debroy, Mr . Ratan P Watal, Mr Amitabh Kant, Mr . Atanu Chakraborty, Dr. T. V. Somanathan, Dr. Anantha Nageswaran, Dr. Shankar Acharya, Dr. Abhijit Sen, Dr. Ajit Mishra, Dr. Manoj Panda, Mr. Swaminathan A. Aiyar and Mr . T. N. Ninan.