Sitharaman Meets 16th Finance Commission Chairman

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya.

The meeting came within two days of the first meeting of the commission in which the members and the chairman discussed the terms of reference.

Full-time members of the commission are former expenditure secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, retired bureaucrat Annie George Mathew, and Artha Global Executive Director Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, while SBI Group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh is a part-time member.

"Shri @APanagariya, Chairman - 16th Finance Commission, calls on Smt @nsitharaman," Sitharaman's office said in a post on X.

The commission, chaired by former vice chairman of Niti Aayog Panagariya, will be assisted by Secretary Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey, two joint secretaries and one economic advisor, in its functioning.

The government constituted the commission under the chairmanship of Panagariya on December 31, 2023. The panel would submit its report to the President by October 31, 2025. The report would be for a five-year period commencing April 1, 2026.

Besides suggesting tax devolution between the Centre and states and revenue augmentation measures, the commission would review the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Finance Commission is a constitutional body that gives suggestions on centre-state financial relations.

The erstwhile 15th Finance Commission 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 from 2021-22 to 2025-26, which is at the same level as was recommended by 14th Finance Commission under Y V Reddy.