Montek Singh Ahluwalia to head Tamil Nadu Revenue Augmentation Committee

Updated - July 27, 2026 09:59 pm IST — CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a Revenue Augmentation Committee under the chairmanship of Montek Singh Ahluwalia, economist, former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, and former Member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.

Mandate and Objectives

The committee has been tasked with recommending measures for the sustainable augmentation of the State’s tax and non-tax revenues by:

• Improving compliance
• Plugging leakages
• Rationalising tax rates, fees, and exemptions
• Identifying new and underutilised sources of revenue

The government, which had already presented a white paper on the State’s finances, stated that there is a need to align revenue growth with economic growth and to augment and sustain the resource base. The objective of the committee is to strengthen the State’s fiscal self-reliance and create the fiscal space needed to meet its developmental commitments.

Committee Composition

The committee will function for a period of three months and will be treated as a Class I Committee for travel, hospitality, and other related expenditure. The members are:

• K.P. Krishnan — Chair Professor of Economics at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Honorary Professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi
• Arbind Modi — Tax policy expert, Convener of the Task Force to Rewrite the Income Tax Act (2017–18), and former economist in the International Monetary Fund’s Fiscal Affairs Department
• Najib Shah — IRS (Retd.), former Chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), former Commissioner of Customs at Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House (JNCH), Nhava Sheva Port, former Additional Director General (Anti-Evasion), Mumbai, and former Joint Secretary (Drawback) in the Union Finance Ministry
• M.A. Siddique — IAS, Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Finance Department, Government of Tamil Nadu
• M. Suresh Babu — Director, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), Chennai

Scope of Work

The committee will:

• Identify new and underutilised sources of revenue
• Examine non-tax avenues, including dividends from public sector undertakings, land and asset monetisation, and improved user charges
• Recommend measures to strengthen revenue security by plugging systemic leakages, curbing tax evasion, and addressing administrative inefficiencies in revenue-collecting departments through structural reforms and greater use of technology
• Recommend ways to enhance revenue from alcohol for human consumption through changes in regulation and taxation policy on liquor

Operational Details

According to a Government Order issued by the Finance Department:

• The committee will meet at the direction of its Chairperson.
• Raja Gopal Sunkara, Joint Secretary to the Government, Finance Department, will serve as the Convener.
• The committee is empowered to call for any records, returns, data, or reports from any government department, public sector undertaking, board, or revenue-collecting agency of the State.
• It may require officers to appear before it and furnish information in person.
• All departments have been directed to comply with the committee’s requests within the stipulated time.
• The committee may co-opt or invite Heads of Departments, field-level officers, subject experts, or other specialists as special invitees for specific agenda items, without making them permanent members.
• It may constitute sub-groups or working groups for individual revenue heads — including State Excise/TASMAC, Registration and Stamps, Mines and Minerals, Commercial Taxes, Motor Vehicles, and non-tax revenue — with clearly defined terms of reference and timelines.
• The Finance (FDAU) Department will provide secretarial and analytical support, maintain records, coordinate with various departments, and monitor the implementation of recommendations.

Published - July 27, 2026 09:54 pm IST