No more ‘April to March’? Central government panel to decide the future of India’s financial year cycle

The central government has set up a committee that would examine whether changing the financial year from its existing April-March cycle would be feasible or not. The committee would submit its report on the benefits in shifting to a different financial year cycle, if any, to the Finance Ministry by December.

Former CEA Shankar Acharya will be heading the committee, which would also include former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, former Tamil Nadu Finance Secretary PV Rajaraman and Rajiv Kumar, a fellow of the Centre for Policy Research.

If the committee recommends this change, the finance ministry would require the committee to provide reasons for its recommendation, from the point of view of correct estimation of the receipts and expenditure of the Central and state governments.

Other than this, the committee would also need to state the likely effect that this change would have on the different agricultural crop periods, on businesses, taxation systems and procedures, statistics and data collection, along with the convenience of the legislatures for transacting budget work.

"The Committee may, after due examination of all relevant factors, recommend the date for commencement of the financial year which in its view is the most suitable for the country," said the notification accessed by ET.

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