Bimal Jalan to head Expenditure Management Commission

Prime minister Narendra Modi has approved the constitution of an expenditure management commission, which would spell out reforms in state spending and subsidies, a government statement said today.

The panel will be headed by Bimal Jalan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and will have former finance secretary Sumit Bose and eminent economist Subir Gokarn as members. Additional secretary, Department of Expenditure in the ministry of finance will be an ex-officio member and a senior officer with finance/expenditure experience will be member-secretary.

The detailed terms of reference of the Expenditure Management Commission will be notified separately, the release said.

The commission is expected to submit its interim report before the budget of 2015-16 and its final report before the Budget of 2016-17.

The finance minister in his budget speech 2014-15 had announced plans to constitute an Expenditure Management Commission.