Government Names Former Niti Aayog VC Arvind Panagariya as Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission

The 16th Finance Commission was announced by the national government on Sunday, and Arvind Panagariya will serve as its chairman. The Commission is scheduled to release its findings by October 31, 2025, and it will span five years, from 2026 to 2031.

The 16th Finance Commission was announced by the national government on Sunday, and Arvind Panagariya will serve as its chairman. The Commission will provide its findings by October 31, 2025, covering a five-year period between 2026 and 2031.

The finance ministry released a statement saying, “The Government of India, with the approval of the President of India, has constituted the Sixteenth Finance Commission, in pursuance of Article 280(1) of the Constitution.”

Arvind Panagariya, a professor at Columbia University, held the position of Vice-Chairman for Niti Aayog from January 2015 to August 2017.

“Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey has been named the Commission’s secretary. The announcement released today also includes a detailed description of the Sixteenth Finance Commission’s terms of reference, according to the ministry.

It said that notifications to members of the 16th Finance Commission will be sent separately.

The following issues are subject to recommendations by the 16th Finance Commission:

1) The division of the net revenues of taxes that the Union and the States will or may split in accordance with Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution, as well as the distribution of the appropriate parts of such proceeds among the States;

Article 275 of the Constitution specifies the principles that should be followed when allocating funds to the States from the Consolidated Fund of India and when making grants-in-aid of their revenues for purposes other than those listed in the provisos to clause (1) of that article.

3) The actions required to increase a state’s Consolidated Fund in order to complement the resources of its municipalities and panchayats, based on the suggestions put forward by the state’s Finance Commission.

The ministry said, “With reference to the funds established under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (53 of 2005), the Sixteenth Finance Commission may review the current arrangements on financing Disaster Management initiatives and make appropriate recommendations thereon.”