The Fifteenth Finance Commission (XVFC), led by Chairman NK Singh, submitted its report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 to the President of India, a government statement said here on Monday. Members of the Commission, Ajay Narayan Jha, Prof Anoop Singh, Dr Ashok Lahiri and Dr Ramesh Chand along with Secretary to the Commission, Arvind Mehta accompanied the Chairman to submit the report, titled “Finance Commission in Covid Times”, to the President.

The Commission was mandated to give its recommendation for five years, from 2021-22 to 2025-26, by October 30, 2020. The recommendations revolved around unique and wide-ranging issues such as vertical and horizontal tax devolution, local government grants, disaster management grant, the Commission was also asked to examine and recommend performance incentives for states in many areas like power sector, adoption of DBT and solid waste management

“The Commission was also asked to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up and if so how such a mechanism could be operationalised,” the statement said.
The report has been organised in four volumes, out of which Volume 1 and 2, contain the main report and the accompanying annexes.

Volume 3 is devoted to the Union Government and examines key departments in greater depth, with the medium-term challenges and the roadmap ahead, while the Volume 4 is entirely devoted to the states, including finances of each state in great depth and state-specific considerations to address the key challenges that individual states face.

The report will be available in the public domain once it is tabled in the Parliament by the Centre along with explanatory memorandum/action taken report on the recommendations contained in the report. Last year, the Commission had submitted its report containing recommendations for the year 2020-21, which was accepted by the Union Government and tabled in the Parliament on January 30, 2020.