The Report of the Committee on Datasets for State Finance Commissions will be released on June 8 at an event organised by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in New Delhi, an official statement said.
Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, will release the report in the presence of Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Dr Manish Gupta, Associate Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), senior officers, and distinguished representatives from research institutions and policy bodies.
The release will be followed by a keynote address from Dr Nageswaran on data-driven policymaking and evidence-based fiscal governance as essential foundations for empowered local self-government and inclusive development.
The Government regards this report as a significant step in its ongoing commitment to strengthening the evidence base for fiscal decentralisation in India. State Finance Commissions, constituted under Article 243-I of the Constitution, are the primary constitutional bodies mandated to review the financial position of Panchayati Raj Institutions and recommend principles governing the devolution of financial resources to local governments, the ministry noted.
To enable these commissions to fulfil their constitutional duties with necessary rigour and credibility, access to reliable, timely, and disaggregated data on local government finances, demographics, infrastructure, service delivery, and asset management is essential.
The Committee on Datasets for State Finance Commissions was constituted by the Ministry in response to concerns raised at the Finance Commissions’ Conclave on Devolution to Development, held in November 2024 under the leadership of the Chairman of the Sixteenth Finance Commission. The conclave identified difficulties in accessing comprehensive datasets across departments and agencies as a critical gap affecting the quality and timeliness of State Finance Commission recommendations.
The report provides a structured and comprehensive mapping of the essential datasets required by State Finance Commissions. It also sets out actionable recommendations to improve data availability, standardisation, interoperability, and institutional capacity across the data ecosystem supporting fiscal analysis at the local level.
The report is expected to serve as an authoritative reference for State Governments, State Finance Commissions, constitutional bodies, economic researchers, and all those committed to deepening democratic decentralisation and strengthening local public finance in India.
