15th FC to use RBI data, tech support on state finances

The Chairman of  the 15th Finance Commission N K Singh on Thursday met Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel and discussed technical and other assistance, which the RBI could offer, enabling the commission to discharge its terms of reference.

The RBI has a rich repository of information on state finances. "The RBI has the data and technical speciality in matters relating to overall finances. The emerging fiscal scenario and the RBI's state finance division is a rich repository of information on state finances over a long period of time," the ministry said.

It said the commission would be greatly benefited by the analytical and domain knowledge of the RBI in these specialised areas. RBI could also assist the commission in the preparation of analytical papers and analysis on some of the complex issues, which the commission would need to address in its terms of reference, Singh was quoted as saying by the ministry.

Arvind Mehta, Secretary to the 15th Finance Commission was also present at this meeting.