The Government of India constituted a Committee to examine the desirability and feasibility of having ‘a new financial year’. The Committee headed by Dr. Shankar Acharya (former Chief Economic Adviser) has Shri K.M. Chandrasekhar (former Cabinet Secretary), Shri P.V. Rajaraman (former Finance Secretary, Tamil Nadu) and Dr. Rajiv Kumar (Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research) as other Members. The Committee will examine the merits and demerits of various dates for the commencement of the financial year including the existing date (April to March), taking into account the various relevant factors.

The details on the Composition and the Terms of Reference of the Committee are uploaded on the website of Ministry of Finance (www.finmin.nic.in). The Committee has been given time till 31st December, 2016 to submit its Report.

Change of financial year: committee to assess alternative fiscal year start dates and report findings. A government committee was constituted to examine the desirability and feasibility of adopting a new financial year start date, to assess merits and demerits of various commencement dates including the existing April-March cycle, with composition and Terms of Reference published on the Ministry of Finance website, and a mandate to submit a report by the stipulated deadline.