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Madhya Pradesh, which was the first State to announce that it would switch to a January-December financial year from the existing April-March cycle starting 2018, has put the plan on the back burner.
The BJP government now holds that it will follow suit once the Centre shifts to the January-December fiscal cycle.
“We are not going to change the cycle from January 2018,” Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya said. “We will shift after the Centre goes for it. Let them first switch over to the new cycle.” On May 2 this year, Madhya Pradesh Public Relations Minister and government spokesman Narottam Mishra had announced shifting to the new financial cycle.
Mishra had said the State would try to finish the current fiscal works by December this year, so that the next Budget would either be presented in December or January.
The State government’s decision had come close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a pitch for changing the current fiscal format during NITI Aayog’s governing council meet in the national capital.
Addressing the States during the meeting on April 23, Modi said: “In a country where agricultural income is exceedingly important, budgets should be prepared immediately after the receipt of agricultural incomes for the year.”
Modi had said there have been suggestions to change the financial year to January-December.
Changing the financial year format means shifting the tax assessment year, changes in infrastructure, especially at the company level.
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