Centre to Host Two-Day State Finance Ministers’ Meet on Financing Viksit Bharat

The Finance Ministry will organise a two-day conference of finance ministers and finance secretaries of states and Union Territories with legislatures on “Financing India’s Journey towards Viksit Bharat,” which will begin on Friday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be present at the conference here which will be attended by several Chief Ministers and finance ministers of states, along with senior officials, according to an official statement on Thursday.

The conference will focus on the policy complementarities between the Centre and the States and will bring together academic rigour and practical policy to deliberate on financing challenges and policy priorities for India’s development journey, the statement said. Anuradha Thakur, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, will briefly highlight the objectives of the conference at the inaugural session. The keynote address at the inaugural session will be delivered by N.K. Singh, president and Life Trustee, Institute of Economic Growth, and Chairman, 15th Finance Commission (XVFC).

Sudhir Shrivastava, former Additional Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, will present the state’s perspective on financing 'Viksit Bharat'. The conference will have three thematic sessions which include a macroeconomic overview, financing agricultural transformation and financing the energy transition. Providing the context for these two-hour deliberations are background papers that have been circulated to the participants on topics such as macroeconomic milestones and pathways towards Viksit Bharat, private financing for Viksit Bharat and implications of GST 2.0 for States.

Financing agricultural markets and marketing, financing resilience and sustainable resource use in Indian agriculture; financing renewable energy and transmission assets, and financing carbon capture utilisation and storage are the other topics that will be covered. Additionally, Saurabh Garg, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), will highlight importance of measuring growth outcomes in India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat, and S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will briefly highlight the role of new-age technology in good governance, the statement added.

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