One of the terms of reference of the Thirteenth Finance Commission (ThFC) calls upon the Finance Commission to look at ‘Measures needed to augment the consolidated fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations...

The present essay is based on various talks that I was called upon to deliver recently. Economics Department of M.S. University, Baroda organized a National Seminar on Stability and Growth in the Post reform Period in India where I delivered a Key Note Address. Then I was invited to speak at an...

The present study examines issues related to fiscal federalism at the third tier in general and grants to local bodies in particular. The study presents a normative framework to estimate the requirements of operation and maintenance (O&M) expenditure at the local body level based on three...

This paper deals with issue of Capital Account Convertibility, in the context of the Indian economy. The issue has been in and out of fashion as far as the priority of the policy makers in India is concerned. The paper essentially derives from the earlier work done by Rao et al, and uses optimal...

Provision of quality urban infrastructure is an area of major concern for the Indian Economy. The financing of this component of infrastructure may turn out to be a somewhat tractable problem, even in the short to medium term. The present paper focuses precisely on this issue. In more recent...

This paper is concerned with devising an approach to intergovernmental transfers, from State Governments to Urban Local Bodies. Our approach will comprise of five cardinal principles abbreviated as PEACE: (a) Political Feasibility (b) Equity (c) Adequacy (d) Computational Transparency and (e)...