The 23rd Conference of the State Finance Secretaries was held in the Reserve Bank of India at Mumbai today. Finance Secretaries of 22 States participated. Dr. D.Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India inaugurated the Conference. Smt. Sudha Pillai, Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Dr. Vijay Kelkar, former Chairman, Thirteenth Finance Commission; Shri Ashok Chawla, Finance Secretary, Shri Sumit Bose, Secretary, Disinvestment; Shri C.R.Sundaramurti, Controller General of Accounts (CGA); and Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, Deputy Governor and other senior officials of the RBI, Ministry of Finance, and Comptroller and Auditor General of India attended the Conference.

The Reserve Bank has been, since 1997, organizing the State Finance Secretaries' Conference every year. The Conference all through has provided a very useful forum for interactions among the State Finance Secretaries, senior officials of the Government of India, CGA, Planning Commission, Finance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General and the Reserve Bank of India. The State Finance Secretaries play a key role in the development process of their respective States and strive to achieve transparency, stability, fairness and efficiency in the conduct of fiscal policies. The deliberations in the past conferences have served to arrive at a consensus on various issues in furtherance of better financial management and fiscal prudence in the States.

Today's Conference aimed to take this consultative process further. Dr. Vijay Kelkar, former Chairman, and Shri Sumit Bose, former Secretary, Thirteenth Finance Commission shared their views on the recommendations of the Report of the Thirteenth Finance Commission. The Conference also deliberated on the recommendations of the Working Group of the State Finance Secretaries on State Fiscal Responsibility Legislation: The Next Phase (Chairman: Prof. D.K.Srivastava). Apart from the discussions on the two Reports, the deliberations in the Conference primarily focused on issues relating to surplus cash balances of the State Governments, projections on market borrowings of the State Governments, issuance of quarterly indicative calendars for borrowing by the States, financial inclusion, financial literacy and Lead Bank Scheme and operational issues pertaining to RBI’s role as banker to the State Governments, such as, State Government business, compensation bonds, RBI’s secured internet website for government transactions and cyber treasury transactions.

G. Raghuraj
Deputy General Manager

Press Release : 2009-2010/1592