Make fiscal subsidies easy to monitor at every level of government
Despite fiscal constraints and rising opportunity costs, election campaigns in India remain significantly dominated by promises of freebies, cash transfers and subsidies. Definitional ambiguity: The absence of a standard, universally accepted definition of ‘subsidy’ allows states significant leeway in determining what to include or exclude under that head, highlighting the urgent need for a uniform framework. Of this, ₹27,000 crore was cleared in the subsequent two years, highlighting how deferred payments can skew fiscal data, place additional burdens on future administrations and complicate inter-temporal analyses of states’ fiscal health. Without addressing definitional ambiguities, off-budget financing and deferred payment practices, fiscal opacity and inefficiency will persist, limiting the country’s ability to fund critical investments in health, education and infrastructure. Accurate, timely and comparable data across all levels of government will not only enhance fiscal discipline, but also enable the Indian state to maximize the delivery of value for taxpayers’ money.
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