Webinar Link

Meeting No: 2513 842 0453
Password: finance

Certificate of Participants

To recieve certificates, please register and attend

Abstract

The global economy is witnessing a historic rebalancing of trade, characterised by new opportunities to expand economic activity and improve living standards through deeper trade integration. In this context, domestic factors and policy choices are likely to become the key differentiators of future growth performance. Fiscal policy, therefore, assumes a critical role—both in bolstering domestic demand and in creating favourable conditions for private sector-led growth. However, soaring global debt levels pose clear risks to fiscal sustainability and constrain the scope for expansionary fiscal policies. Consequently, the effectiveness of fiscal policy will increasingly depend on robust Public Financial Management (PFM) systems that enhance expenditure quality through effective monitoring and optimal resource allocation. The panel will deliberate on India’s experience in building public financial management systems and practices, and on how these have been synchronised with the country’s overall fiscal strategy

About the Speakers

Amar Patnaik

Dr. Amar Patnaik served as a Member of Parliament (2019-24) in the Rajya Sabha from Odisha, representing the Biju Janata Dal. During his tenure as an MP, he was a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Committee on Public Undertakings & Rajya Sabha Committee on Subordinate Legislation. He has also held positions as the party’s national spokesperson and head of the IT wing.

Prior to his time in Parliament, Dr. Patnaik had a distinguished career in the Indian Civil Services from where he took premature retirement. He served as an Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) officer under the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India for 28 years and held the position of Principal Accountant General (PAG) in Sikkim, Odisha, West Bengal, and Kerala. Dr. Patnaik also worked on global external audit assignments with the United Nations in New York, Sudan, Uganda & Italy and has led India’s External Audit Missions to various countries. He has audited the IT systems of the UN and FAO, and the several national entities like the Indian Railways and State Governments during his career with the CAG of India.

Anoop Singh

Anoop Singh has been Member, 15th Finance Commission of India, in the rank of Union Minister of State. The Finance Commission is a constitutional body that recommended tax sharing and grant transfers between the Union and the States for the period 2021-2026.

He is Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP, the Brookings India successor) in New Delhi, and has recently been adjunct Professor at Georgetown University,Washington DC.

Before that, at the International Monetary Fund, he was Director of the Asia and Pacific Department, Director of the Western Hemisphere Department, and Director of Special Operations.

His additional work experience includes being Special Advisor to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has also been Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Affairs, Asia Pacific, for JP Morgan. Mr. Singh holds degrees from the universities of Bombay, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics.

Sweta Saxena

Ms. Sweta Saxena was the Chief of Staff and the Acting Director of Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. From 2018–2022, she served as the Chief in the Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok, Thailand, where she led 4 flagship reports that mainstreamed sustainable development in economic policymaking. Prior to this, Ms. Saxena worked at the IMF (Washington DC), BIS (Switzerland) and University of Pittsburgh (USA). Her research has appeared in top journals (AER, JEL, JIE).

Ms. Saxena has a PhD in economics from the University of Washington, an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and a B.A. in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.

Subodh Mathur

Subodh Mathur is a former Public Financial Management (PFM) Advisor at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A former member of the Indian Civil Accounts Service, he has over 34 years of experience in public finance, budgeting, public finance law, government accounting, accounting of autonomous bodies, internal audit, Financial Management Information Systems (FMIS) and IT systems, human resource management, and national wealth fund management. In his last assignment, he managed the Public Financial Management System (PFMS)—a flagship FMIS of the Government of India—responsible for the management of treasury receipts, payments, and accounts, as well as the execution of Direct Cash Transfers and monitoring the ultimate utilisation of government funds.

Subodh Mathur is also a graduate Civil Engineer from IIT Kanpur and has received postgraduate training from the University of Adelaide, Australia. Over the course of his career, he has worked across various ministries and departments of the Government of India and also served as a Professor (Information Technology) at the National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad.

Additionally, he has worked with the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund as a Senior Treasury Advisor in Timor-Leste and Antigua & Barbados. In Timor-Leste, he advised on the management of the country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. He is an avid yoga practitioner and is actively involved in the social welfare activities of Dhyan Foundation.