Govt appoints RBI DG T. Rabi Sankar as 16th FinComm member

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra with Deputy Governors Poonam Gupta, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar and Swaminathan Janakiraman earlier than the post-monetary coverage press convention, in Mumbai, on June 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar has been appointed as a part-time member of the 16th Finance Commission, the finance ministry mentioned on Saturday (June 7, 2025).

The appointment, the ministry mentioned, “is consequent to the resignation of one of the full-time members, former Finance Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, on personal grounds”.

“The President has appointed T. Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as a part-time Member of the 16th Finance Commission (XVIFC),” the ministry mentioned in an announcement.

“Mr. Sankar will hold office from the date of assuming charge until the submission of the Commission’s Report or October 31, 2025, whichever is earlier,” it added.

The fee, chaired by former Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya, has 4 members and is assisted by Secretary Ritvik Pandey, two joint secretaries and one financial advisor.

Retired bureaucrat Annie George Mathew and economist Manoj Panda are full-time members of the fee, whereas SBI Group Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh is a part-time member.

The authorities constituted the 16th Finance Commission beneath the chairmanship of Panagariya on December 31, 2023. The panel would submit its report back to the President by October 31, 2025. The report could be for 5 years commencing on April 1, 2026.

Besides suggesting tax devolution between the Centre and states and income augmentation measures, the fee will evaluation the current preparations for financing catastrophe administration initiatives on the subject of the funds constituted beneath the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The Finance Commission is a constitutional physique to supply strategies on centre-state monetary relations.

The erstwhile fifteenth Finance Commission beneath N.K. Singh had really helpful that states be given 41% of the divisible tax pool of the Centre in the course of the five-year interval 2021-22 to 2025-26, which is on the similar stage as was really helpful by the 14th Finance Commission beneath Y.V. Reddy.