Manoj Panda Appointed member of the 16th Finance Commission

The government of India has appointed eminent economist Manoj Panda as a member of the 16th Finance Commission. Manoj Panda will replace Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, who resigned recently due to personal circumstances.

The Sixteenth Finance Commission was constituted on 31 December 2023 by President Murmu under Article 280 of the Constitution. Article 280 provides that the President must constitute a Finance Commission every five years or sooner thereafter.

According to the Union Ministry of Finance notification, Manoj Panda will remain a member of the 16th Finance Commission until the commission submits the report or the 31st day of October 2025, whichever is earlier.   

About Manoj Panda 

Manoj Panda is an eminent economist. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, United States of America.

He served as director of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad, as a professor and associate professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai.

Panda was also an economist and senior economist at the New Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Research. 

Members of the 16th Finance Commission 

According to Article 280 of the constitution, the Finance Commission comprises a Chairman and four other members. The Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1951, enacted by the Parliament, mentions the qualifications of the Chairman and members of the Finance Commission.

Chairman - Dr Arvind Panagariya, former vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog  

Other Members of the 16th Finance Commission 

Ajay Narayan Jha - former secretary of Expenditure, Union Ministry of Finance,

Annie George Mathew-  former special secretary of Expenditure, Union Ministry of Finance

Manoj Panda - an eminent economist.

Soumya Kanti Ghosh- He has been appointed as a part-time member. He was the former group chief economic advisor of the State Bank of India.

Function of the Finance Commission 

The Finance Commission makes recommendations to the President on matters concerning. 

• The distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of divisible Union taxes.
• Suggest a formula for distributing such tax proceeds between the Union and the States. 
• Regarding the principles determining grants-in-aid under Article 275  to the states from the Consolidated Fund of India.
• The measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State are based on the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State.
• Review and make recommendations regarding the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives, with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act 2005.

Tenure of the 16th Finance Commission 

• The 16th Finance Commission is expected to submit its report to the President by the 31st day of October 2025.
• The recommendation of the 16th Finance Commission will be applicable from 1 April 2026  till 31st March 2032.
• The president is not bound to accept the recommendation of the Finance Commission. The central government may or may not accept the tax devolution formula recommended by the Finance Commission.

First Finance Commission 1951 

President Rajendra Prasad appointed the first Finance Commission in 1951. K.C. Neogy was the chairman of the first Finance Commission. The recommendation of the first Finance Commission was implemented from 1952 to 1957.

The 15th Finance Commission was appointed by the President in 2017, and it was  headed by N.K.Singh. The recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission made its recommendations for a six-year period from 2020-21 to 2025-26.