Bhopal: Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission of India, Arvind Panagariya, on Thursday said that if one state's devolution is to be increased, another's has to be cut down.
Panagariya said this in Bhopal on Thursday in response to a TOI query on the possibility of a rise in MP's share in devolution from the existing 7.85%. MP got over Rs 1.1 lakh crore as devolution in the Union Budget for 2025-2026, up from Rs 97,000 crore the previous fiscal. The state is hoping for a higher devolution.
"This is a percentage issue. You increase one, you have to reduce somebody. You cannot increase one without reducing another. One has to ultimately decide what the criteria are going to be that the commission would adopt and based on those criteria what is the division of those resources," Panagariya told TOI.
Panagariya praised the presentation made by MP govt before the commission, which is visiting MP, and its vision in different sectors for its growth. He said that the state talked about Viksit MP like Viksit Bharat.
"MP achieved success in agriculture and now has big ambitions of industrialisation. The Global Investors Summit was one such step," the finance commission chairman said in his interaction with the media.