

Make fiscal subsidies easy to monitor at every level of government
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Despite fiscal constraints and rising opportunity costs, election campaigns in India remain significantly dominated by promises of freebies, cash transfers and subsidies. This makes transparency in subsidy spending more critical than ever.
However, accountability remains elusive, given the country’s lack of good-quality and timely data on the actual subsidy expenditure of states. This makes it difficult to distinguish between justifiable welfare measures and politically motivated giveaways. The Comptroller and Auditor General has consistently underscored the need for such differentiation, but this requires a fundamental improvement in Indian subsidy reporting practices.
India faces three key challenges in this context. Definitional ambiguity: The absence of a standard, universally accepted definition of ‘subsidy’ allows states significant leeway in determining what to include or exclude under that head, highlighting the urgent need for a uniform framework. Freebies, tax rebates, cash transfers and implicit subsidies are often selectively omitted or included, making comparisons difficult.
For instance, Tamil Nadu’s Vidiyal Payanam Scheme, which offers free bus rides for women, is classified as a subsidy, while a similar scheme in Punjab does not feature in its subsidy statement. Such inconsistencies arise across virtually all states. Odisha stands out as the only state that has consistently reported implicit subsidy burdens since 2009-10.
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