The Ministry has six departments: Financial Affairs, Expenditure, Income, Funding & Public Asset Administration, Monetary Companies, and Public Enterprises. With the elevation of Finance Secretary T V Somanathan, who additionally heads the Expenditure Division, to the place of Cupboard Secretary and the superannuation of Public Enterprises Secretary Ali Raza Rizvi, the Ministry at the moment has 4 Secretaries: Ajay Seth (Financial Affairs), Sanjay Malhotra (Income), Tuhin Ok Pandey (Funding & Public Asset Administration), and Vivek Joshi (Monetary Companies).
Conventionally, the senior-most amongst all six Secretaries is designated as Finance Secretary. Accordingly, Ajay Seth could possibly be appointed as the brand new Finance Secretary. A 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka cadre, Seth joined the Ministry on Could 1, 2021, and is scheduled to superannuate on June 30, 2025. Seth holds an MBA (Gold Medalist) and a level in Mechanical Engineering. If he’s appointed as Finance Secretary, it will likely be the primary time in 5 years that the Financial Affairs Secretary has been given this submit.
Now, the massive query is: Who will succeed Somanathan as Expenditure Secretary? There are two names circulating: one from throughout the Ministry and one from outdoors. One expectation is that DIPAM Secretary Pandey could also be shifted to Expenditure. Seth’s batchmate, Pandey is an Odisha cadre Indian Administrative Service Officer, with an MBA and a postgraduate diploma in Economics. Pandey joined the Finance Ministry as DIPAM Secretary in 2019 and is scheduled to superannuate in July subsequent 12 months.
The second title circulating for Expenditure Secretary is Electronics & Info Expertise Secretary S Krishnan, a 1989-batch Tamil Nadu cadre officer. After spending 12 years within the cadre and holding varied posts within the State, Krishnan joined the Centre final September and is scheduled to superannuate in 2027. He has a postgraduate diploma in Economics.
As of now, nothing has been heard concerning the title for the Public Enterprises Division because the earlier Secretary accomplished their time period on July 31. Since then, DIAPM Secretary Pandey has been holding cost of the division, which was carved out from the Heavy Trade Ministry and made a part of the Finance Ministry in 2021.
Finances train
The Finance Ministry is predicted to kick-start the price range train for the fiscal 12 months 2025-26 with the issuance of a ‘Finances Round’ early subsequent month. With this, the primary huge process of the brand new Expenditure Secretary might be to finalise the revised estimates for the fiscal 12 months 2024-25 and the price range estimates for the fiscal 12 months 2025-26. These discussions are anticipated to start in October. Whereas the revised estimates are finalised based mostly on the expenditure development of the primary six months of the continued fiscal, price range estimates for the subsequent fiscal are labored out on based mostly on expenditure developments for 9 months of the present fiscal.
The whole train might be crucial to reaching a fiscal deficit of 4.5 per cent by FY26, as introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Additionally, subsequent 12 months’s price range could possibly be the final price range the place the deficit is projected as a single quantity, as it’s anticipated that from FY27 onwards, there could possibly be a spread of deficit projections with a give attention to the debt-to-GDP ratio.
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