NEW DELHI :
The finance ministry has started an exercise to revamp the role of financial advisers—the interface between various ministries and the expenditure department—aiming to foster quicker and more efficient decision making while keeping a watch on the purse strings.
The idea is to build in greater efficiencies in individual ministries and departments in order to improve decision making on “schemes, projects, policies and fund utilisation,” according to two officials in the know.
The plan to revamp the decades-old role of financial advisers is part of the government’s Vision 2047 that aims to make the country one of the world’s top three economies by the 100th year of independence.
The aim is to find a solution to the inherent tensions between individual departments implementing schemes and the expenditure department that controls the government’s purse strings, one of the officials said, asking not to be named.
“Efficiency and productivity will be the drivers for Vision 2047 and better financial control on execution of policies and schemes has to be brought forth,” said the second official, who too did not want to be identified.
Given that individual ministers’ performance is often evaluated by the outcome of schemes even as the expenditure department takes care of the Centre’s fiscal position, the role of financial advisers has become sensitive and crucial in day-to-day decision making in the central government.
At times, the expenditure department has to cut non-priority administrative spending and reject proposals to create new posts, as happened during the pandemic. The revamp could well lead to financial advisers being given a larger say in the expenditure roadmap of ministries with possibly more authority to enable better internal governance.
The move is significant given the size of the Central budget— ₹39 trillion in FY23. Of this, ₹7.5 trillion is meant for capital spending alone aimed at giving an immediate boost to the economy.
The parliamentary standing committee on finance led by BJP leader Jayant Sinha had in March emphasized in its report to the House the importance of utilizing this fund “productively, efficiently and adequately.”
The move also signals the government’s desire to make fund utilisation more effective.
The Centre often faces the issue of savings under various schemes at the time of supplementary demands for grants, which seems to indicate bottlenecks in planning or spending at different levels.
Mint has learnt that the finance ministry has formed an internal working group under the department of expenditure to seek views from all ministries and departments on how the role of the financial adviser can be improved.
Views have been sought on driving efficiency, enabling faster decision making and execution of projects, policies and schemes, including through faster movement of files both inter-department and within departments.
Queries sent to the finance ministry on Saturday did not elicit a response at press time.
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