state government

The difficulty in spending

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Tax receipts are surging and markets are primed for higher state government deficits, but states are struggling to spend Neelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at January 11, 2022 00:13 IST This appeared in the Business Standard on January 11, 2022 (link). One can easily spend a few thousand rupees, maybe even a few lakhs, but … Read more

The other budgets

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With central reforms increasingly announced outside budget speeches, and both revenue and expenditures starting to become predictable, it might be more productive for public attention to move to other areas of government functioning like state and municipal budgets.Written by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: February 6, 2020 9:36:43 am (This was published in the Indian Express: … Read more

State budgets: Less ‘crowding out’

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Collective borrowing by the Centre and states this year will likely be half of the financial savings of householdsNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at November 25, 2019 19:38 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Given how important state government budgets are in the Indian economic framework, the Reserve Bank of India publishing … Read more

A bold experiment for a tough problem: Rythu Bandhu

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There’s much in favour of Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu scheme but a lot that goes against it as wellNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at July 4, 2018 05:55 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) For decades, an important income transfer from the (largely non-farming) rich to the (largely farming) poor in India occurred … Read more

There is still hope for agriculture

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In Madhya Pradesh, agri is now 38% of its total output, versus 17% (and falling) average for IndiaNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at May 1, 2017 22:44 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) saw a 30 per cent increase in agricultural output last year. While it … Read more

Are regulators behind the curve?

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The Union govt can only enforce fiscal deficit targets for states as long as states owe it moneyNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at April 3, 2017 23:31 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Are regulators behind the curve on state governments’ bond issuances? In the past seven years, even as the absolute … Read more

Vexing taxing problems

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Centre-state data sharing is currently a distant dream but can be ground-breaking if implementedNeelkanth Mishra | Last Updated at January 2, 2017 23:24 IST (This was published in the Business Standard: link) Recent developments have reopened some long-running debates about our country, like of “state capacity” (how closely does the execution of a policy mirror … Read more

In country-sized states

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State governments cannot make cities livable. They must give urban areas freedom to manage themselves.Written by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: May 16, 2015 12:08:55 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) Exasperated with explaining the size of India to people, I now carry a map in which the country that comes closest to … Read more

States in charge

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The changing electorate and competitive federalism will be checks on their profligacy.Written by Neelkanth Mishra | March 5, 2015 12:13:23 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) Have the states “grown up”? That’s the question to ask once the (well-justified) celebrations of “cooperative federalism” triggered by the government’s acceptance of the 14th Finance … Read more

Shifting to the state

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A structural change is afoot. It holds great promise for India.Written by Neelkanth Mishra | Updated: November 24, 2014 12:05:27 am (This was published in the Indian Express: link) Is A 1,000-employee single-city company managed the same way as a 1,00,000-employee transnational company? I recently asked this rhetorical question when an experienced foreign investor asked … Read more