The study examines in detail the pillar one and two proposals to find the most viable solution for India.

The report aimed at addressing following issues pertaining to state finances in general and fiscal responsibility legislation in particular:

􀀁 Compliance of the State Government to the provisions of FRBM Act in the fiscal year 2018-19. These include fiscal targets relating to deficit, debt and other fiscal variables as specified in the Act.

􀀁 Assessment of macroeconomic outlook: The FRBM Act calls upon the state to prepare a macroeconomic outlook along with its medium term fiscal plan (MTFP).

􀀁 Assessment of state finances in terms of revenue effort, Central transfers, spending pattern and debt management.

The objectives of the study are to (a) analyse fiscal management of the state to address structural issues which are under the control of the State  Government; (b) analyse fiscal management of the Union to assess the impact on the state’s revenue in the foreseeable future; (c) analyse the impact of the first and second wave of Covid-19 on the Union and the state to help the state introduce necessary revenue and expenditure side measures to manageably absorb the impact of Covid-19 induced economic shock; and (d) analyse the prospective economic impact of the potential third wave and suggest ways to help the state economically prepare for any such eventuality.

Updating of state finances information from Budget documents. We have the information from 1987-88 to 2020-21 BE.

This paper conducts efficiency analysis of public spending on healthcare in India. Using state-level panel data on public spending compiled from budgets, we estimate the efficiency of public spending across different states in India. We also rank the states based on their technical efficiency. Further, using administrative data on delays in fund disbursal to state health societies and vacancies in healthcare workforce, we estimate their elasticities on technical efficiency.

The 75th round of survey on social consumption on health conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) suggests that there has been a significant fall in morbidity rate in India in the three-year period 2014 to 2017-18. The magnitude of this fall is not only remarkably sharp, but also is in contrast to the rising trends in morbidity levels in the country for nearly the past two decades. This paper digs into methodological issues to understand the reliability of the emerging patterns. The relevance of the assessment stems from the fact that the survey has implications for health policy formulations.

The Covid pandemic imposed dual pressures on state finances. Contraction in revenues was coupled with an increased pressure to expand public spending. Evidence from 26 states suggests that aggregate revenues fell by about 5 percent in 2020-21. Despite this fall, states have maintained a 5 percent average growth rate of aggregate spending. Public expenditure in social sector grew at a significantly higher rate than economic services. Within social services, health expenditure grew at 16 percent. This rise in health spending has, however, come at the cost of expenditures in important sectors like education, nutrition, and social security.