The Finance Commission has established an 8-member panel, which will be headed by 15th Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh, to review the fiscal consolidation road map of the both state and central governments. The Terms of Reference of the panel include making recommendations on the definition of deficit and debt for the central government, overall states, the general government and public sector enterprises by considering all explicit and measurable liabilities of the sovereign and by bringing in consistency between the definition of debt (stock) and deficit (flow).
Besides, the panel will also lay down the principles for arriving at the debt of the general government debt and consolidated public sector with appropriate netting to avoid double-counting. The committee will define contingent liabilities, provide quantifiable measures of such liabilities, wherever possible, and specify conditions under which contingent liabilities become explicit liabilities of the public sector.
The committee will recommend a debt and fiscal consolidation road map for FY21-FY25 for the central government, overall states and general government and attempt building up scenarios for public sector enterprises.