The government names one part-time and three full-time members for the 16th Finance Commission.

Soumya Kanti Ghosh, the group chief economic advisor of State Bank of India (SBI), has been selected as a part-time member.New Delhi: The finance ministry announced in a statement on Wednesday that the government has appointed three full-time and one part-time member to the Sixteenth Finance Commission (16th FC).According to the statement, the commission's full-time members are Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, executive director of Artha Global, former special secretary for expenditures and member of the 15th Finance Commission Ajay Narayan Jha.It further stated that Soumya Kanti Ghosh, the group chief economic advisor for State Bank of India (SBI), has been selected as a part-time member.According to the announcement, "it has been requested that the Sixteenth Finance Commission make its recommendations available by October 31, 2025, covering an award period of 5 years commencing 1st April, 2026."In order to propose a devolution formula for tax income between the Center and states, the government last month named Arvind Panagariya, a professor at Columbia University and former vice-chairman of NITI Aayog, as the 16th chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FC).The government announced the terms of reference (ToR) for the 16th commission on November 29. In addition to reviewing the current arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives, the ToR asked the body to recommend ways to augment state resources for local bodies. Panagariya's appointment order was issued approximately one month later.

Ritvik R. Pandey, a joint secretary in the Department of Revenue and an AS officer from the 1998 batch, was assigned as an officer on special duty for the 16th Finance Commission's advance cell on November 6th, with the rank and compensation of an extra secretary."The allocation between the States of the respective shares of such proceeds and the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them under Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution," stated the original set of rules for the commission.The second ToR states, "The principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India and the sums to be paid to the States by way of grants-in-aid of their revenues under article 275 of the Constitution for the purposes other than those specified in the provisos to clause (1) of that article."The third treaty on resources (ToR) deals with the actions required to increase a state's consolidated fund in order to augment the resources of municipalities and panchayats, based on the recommendations of the corresponding state finance commissions.According to the statement, the 16th FC may examine current arrangements for funding disaster management activities while taking into account the funds established under the Disaster Management Act and offer pertinent recommendations.