75 Years of Central Government Budgets (1947-48 to 2021-22) and Finance Commissions of India (I to XV)

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In India, the Central Government budget is designed mainly to ensure Parliamentary control and accounting scrutiny. Each year the Government has to obtain the authority of the Parliament to raise revenues to meet its expenditure. Budget of the government is perhaps the most important annual item on the agenda of the Parliament. Budget papers of the Government of India provide glimpses of the events, challenges, and perceptions of the leaders. They highlight contemporary problems of the Indian economy and policy measures taken by the government to solve them, making for a fascinating study of India’s march towards development. Fiscal federalism is a subject of topical interest in India in view of some recent developments of historical importance. The Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000, significantly changed the manner of distribution of Central tax collections between the Central and State Governments. Spread over 29 chapters, the book is organized into 2 parts. Part I (chapters 1 to 7) is titled Government Budgeting Procedures in India. Part II (chapters 8 to 29) is titled Centre-State Financial Relations (Fiscal Federalism) in India. M.M. Sury received his B.A. (Hons.), M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Delhi. He taught economics in the same University for 42 years. Specialising in fiscal economics, he has published extensively on the Indian fiscal system in recognised national and international journals, including Small Industry Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific (United Nations, Bangkok), Bulletin for International Fiscal Documentation (International Fiscal Association, Amsterdam), Asian-Pacific Tax and Investment Bulletin (Singapore), Journal of the Indian School of Political Economy (Pune), Indian Economic Journal (Bombay), and Margin (New Delhi). He was a Visiting Fellow at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, Amsterdam (May 1989), a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1991-92) and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Law and Management, University of Mauritius, Mauritius (September-October, 2000). He was Economic Adviser of First Delhi State Finance Commission (1996-97). Budget is an important instrument to carry out policies and programmes outlined by the governments. It is through the budget that a government arranges financial resources and allocates them among competing uses. The high level of administrative, welfare and developmental activities of the government make for colossal amounts of both receipts and disbursements. No less important are the effects of massive public expenditure on production, distribution and economic stabilization. Part I: Government Budgeting Procedures in India 1. Government Budgeting: Conceptual Framework 1.1 Significance of Government Budgeting 1.2 Government Budgeting versus Private Budgeting 1.3 Canons of Government Budgeting 1.4 Incremental Budgeting 1.5 Zero-base Budgeting (ZBB) 1.6 Functional, Economic and Cross-classification of the Budget 1.7 Gender Budgeting 2. Phases of Budgetary Cycle in India 2.1 Preparation of the Budget 2.2 Legalisation of the Budget 2.3 Execution of the Budget 2.4 Auditing of Accounts 3. Contents and Explanation of Budget Documents 3.1 Budget Speech of the Finance Minister 3.2 Annual Financial Statement 3.3 Demands for Grants 3.4 Finance Bill 3.5 Macroeconomic Framework Statement 3.6 Medium-term Fiscal Policy-cum-Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement 3.7 Expenditure Budget 3.8 Receipts Budget 3.9 Expenditure Profile 3.10 Memorandums Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill 3.11 Budget at a Glance 3.12 Output Outcome Monitoring Framework 3.13 Key Features of Budget 3.14 Implementation of Budget Announcements 3.15 Budget-related Documents 3.16 Financial Emergency 4. Parliamentary Control over the Budget 4.1 Public Accounts Committee 4.2 Estimates Committee 4.3 Committee on Public Undertakings 5. Components and Structure of Central Government Budget 2021-22 5.1 Revenue Budget 5.2 Capital Budget 5.3 Various Measures of Budget Deficit and Their Significance 5.4 Budget and the External Sector 6. Budgetary Reforms in India 6.1 Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 6.2 Fiscal Responsibility Legislations by States 6.3 Budgetary Reforms Suggested by Eleventh Finance Commission (XI-FC) 6.4 Budgetary Reforms Suggested by Twelfth Finance Commission (XII-FC) 6.5 Budgetary Reforms Suggested by the Committee on Capital Account Convertibility 6.6 Gender Budgeting in India 6.7 Recent Budgetary Reforms 6.8 Digitisation of the Budget 7. Highlights of Central Government Budgets in India: 1947-48 to 2021-22 Part II: Centre-State Financial Relations (Fiscal Federalism) in India 8. Federation and Fiscal Federalism: Conceptual Settings 8.1 Meaning and Features of a Federation 8.2 Economic Basis of Decentralisation 8.3 Advantages of Decentralised Decision-making 8.4 What is Fiscal Federalism? 8.5 Problems of Multi-level Finance: Vertical and Horizontal Imbalances 8.6 Financing of Public Expenditure 8.7 Earmarking of Revenue 9. Nature and Features of Indian Federation 9.1 Constitution and India’s Federal Structure 9.2 Division of Powers 9.3 Centrally Biased Constitution and its Justification 9.4 Commission on Centre-State Relations, 1988 10. Centralisation of Revenues and the Need for and Channels of Transfers to States 10.1 Centralisation of Revenues 10.2 Need for Inter-governmental Transfers 10.3 Channels of Central Transfers to the States 10.4 Claims and Counter-claims for Financial Resources 11. Fiscal Federalism and the Role of Finance Commission 11.1 Evolution of Fiscal Federalism in India 11.2 Appointment and Duties of the Finance Commission 11.3 Powers and Procedures 11.4 Nature of Finance Commission Recommendations 12. Finance Commission and Vertical Distribution of Resources 12.1 Itemised Sharing of Revenue between the Centre and the States Prior to Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000 12.2 From Itemised to Globalized Sharing of Revenue between the Centre and the States after the Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000 12.3 Overall Ceiling 13. Finance Commission and Horizontal Distribution of Resources 13.1 Inter Se Distribution of States’ Share in Central Taxes Prior to Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000 13.2 Inter Se Distribution of States’ Share in Central Taxes after the Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000 13.3 Grants-in-aid of Revenues 14. Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Changed Landscape of Fiscal Federalism in Ind

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