Economist Manoj Panda Appointed As Member Of Finance Commission In Place Of Rajadhyaksha

The finance panel, which will decide on the formula for dividing up tax collections between the Centre and states and also among the states, had been functioning with only two full-time members, a part-time member, and Chairperson Arvind Panagariya.

Panda “shall hold office from the date of assuming office up to the date of submission of Report or 31st day of October 2025, whichever is earlier,” said the official notification on the appointment issued on April 5. 

Hailing from Odisha's Kalahandi district, Panda holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Indian Statistical Institute. It may also be important to note that earlier, he served as Director of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) in Hyderabad and also worked as a Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai. 

The 16th Finance Commission was announced on December 31, 2023, and subsequently,  members and a chairperson were named by the end of January this year.

The full-time members included Ajay Narayan Jha, Annie George Mathew, Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, while Soumya Kanti Ghosh joined as a part-time member. Panagariya, former Niti Aayog head and a professor at Columbia University, was appointed the chairman of the commission. 

However, Rajadhyaksha, who is the Executive Director of Artha Global, later stood down in February, citing unforeseen personal circumstances, creating a vacancy. 

Panda’s appointment completes the team and implies that the commission can now start its work in earnest. 

Among the issues that have proven to be prickly are how taxes collected by the Centre are to be distributed by the central government with several southern states complaining that they were being discriminated against in the way the formula had been changed. Also at stake is the inordinate number of cesses collected by the central government, which are not shared with the states. 

The 16th Finance Commission is expected to submit its report by October-end next year. This report will be applicable for five years from April 1, 2026.