An autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Finance

 

Ongoing projects

Overview of State Finance Commission Reports (for the Fifteenth Finance Commission under the BMGF Project - Innovations in Public finance

  • Sponsor BMGF
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty, Manish Gupta
  • Focus
    The study examined the approaches adopted by different State Finance Commissions in devolution of resources from the States to the Local governments in different States. This report at the request of the 15th Finance Commission examined 25 State Finance Commission reports. The study analysed the gaps and challenges in the operation of State Finance Commissions and the effectiveness of the SFCs recommendations at the State
    level. 
     

Seeds of Labour (Dis)Contentment in India

  • Start date May, 2020
  • Sponsor Self-initiated
  • Project leader Mukesh Anand and Rahul Chakraborty
  • Focus

    A higher rate of (effective) tax on employees’ compensation (return to labour) than on operating surplus (return to composite capital) not only affects labour demand adversely, but also reinforces the nudge to deepen capital. Moreover, a narrow applicability of the recent amendments to the Minimum Wage Act 1948 unhinges the wage expectation of workers and adversely affects labour supply. To facilitate stable growth of GDP in accordance with competitive advantage, this paper suggests (a) rebalancing the tax arena that currently favours value addition from capital to that from labour, (b) eliminating labour-input thresholds to enforce laws and smoothen labour demand schedule, and (c) rationalizing the procedure for right-sizing the minimum remuneration to anchor wage expectations and promote labour supply.


Preparing Training Modules on Public Financial Management and Local Government Finances for Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Centre for Training and Research in Financial (PDU-CTRFA)

  • Start date July, 2021
  • Sponsor Government of Uttarakhand
  • Project leader Pratap Ranjan Jena
  • Other faculty Manish Gupta

An Assessment of Attitudes towards Tax Policy and Compliance

  • Start date Jan., 2022
  • Completion date Dec., 2024
  • Sponsor Self-Initiated
  • Project leader R. Kavita Rao
  • Focus
    Approaching the question of increasing tax to GDP ratios from the taxpayer’s perceptions, the study aims to explore whether people’s perceptions in India about tax compliance by citizens is related to their perceptions about fairness and ease of compliance on the one hand and on the perceived benefits from government spending on the other. The study proposes to survey about 150-200 individuals of different backgrounds to explore whether there are differences in perceptions. This study can be considered a pilot which could be expanded to a larger scale survey, if the initial results are found interesting.

Social Pension in India: Precursor to a Universal Basic Income Programme

  • Start date Aug., 2020
  • Sponsor Self-Initiated
  • Project leader Mukesh Kumar Anand
  • Consultants/Other authors Rahul Chakraborty
  • Focus
    The paper attempts to assess both efficiency and adequacy (i) in identification and (ii) of benefits from National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP). It includes a discussion on the use of citizens’ identifier (Aadhar) to facilitate the administration of NSAP, and whether the design could be adapted and serve as a precursor to a Universal Basic Income (UBI) programme. The revised paper contextualizes the discussion on India with an international comparison and utilizes information from the programme dashboard for analysis across Indian states.