The Office of Chief Adviser Cost, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, is celebrating the organizing Iconic Week of the Ministry of Finance under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 06^th June, 2022 New Delhi. Being part of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Office of Chief Adviser Cost is organising series of programmes/ events during this week as under:

1. Seminar on “Appraisal & Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects – Time & Cost Overruns” on 06^th June, 2022
2. “Walkathon from Lodi Garden to Office of Chief Adviser Cost’ on 07^th June, 2022.
3. Workshop on ‘Vision ICoAS@2047’ on 08^th June, 2022
4. Workshop on “Input Tax Credit under Goods and Service Tax Act” on 09^th June, 2022.
5. Workshop on “Cost Accounting Standard 19 on Joint Costs” on 10^th June, 2022.

While kicking off the AKAM celebrations, Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary stated that the Prime Minister's vision is to make the India as one of the world's top three economies and bring it closer to developed nation status by the 100^th year of its independence in 2047. The Government has focused on time-bound creation of world-class infrastructure and has enhanced the capital expenditure by 35.4% in the budget 2022-23.

However, time and cost overrun create bottleneck in achieving the vision of the Prime Minister. While stressing on the need of technology to manage and control the delay in the construction phase, he also emphasised on appraisal of projects before commissioning by involving technical and financial experts. Appraisal/monitoring of projects by an independent group comprising ICoAS Officers at the time of appraisal and during/post completion of the project may speed up in creation of excellent infrastructure during the AMRIT KAL, he added.

Input Tax Credit and Cost Accounting reforms to strengthen project appraisal, monitoring, and infrastructure delivery outcomes. The Office of Chief Adviser Cost organized seminars and workshops emphasizing Appraisal & Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects to address time and cost overruns through technology and expert appraisal, and recommended independent appraisal and monitoring by ICoAS officers during appraisal, execution, and post completion. Parallel workshops focused on Input Tax Credit under the Goods and Services Tax Act and Cost Accounting Standard 19 on joint costs to strengthen tax-compliance and standardized cost accounting in support of capital expenditure and infrastructure delivery.