In a journey from departmentalisation to digitalisation, ICAS has brought a silent revolution through Public Financial Management System (PFMS): Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

Expenditure Secretary Dr. Manoj Govil emphasises need of harmonisation of Union and State Accounts including Urban, Rural and Local Bodies

CGA Shri Shyam Dubey outlined CGA's demonstrated robustness, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, transferring over Rs. 22.85 lakh crore, including DBT schemes

PFMS acts as a critical digital infrastructure to enable transactions between different economic entities efficiently and transparently: Dr. Panagariya

The Civil Accounts Day 2025 was celebrated in New Delhi to mark the 49th foundation day of Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) with the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, presiding over as Chief Guest.

Dr. Manoj Govil, Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance; and Shri Shyam S. Dubey, Controller General of Accounts (CGA), were also present on the occasion. Officers and staff of the Indian Civil Accounts Organisation, Financial Advisers of Government of India, other Senior Officials of Department of Expenditure and other Ministries /Departments of Government of India, retired ICAS Officers, senior officers from Banks and State Governments, among others, were also part of the celebrations.

During the inaugural function, the Union Finance Minister also released a compendium on the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), titled “Digitalisation of Public Financial Management in India: The Transformative Decade (2014-24)”.

During the Foundation Day, a short film on the evolution and achievements of the Indian Civil Accounts Organisation (ICAO) was also screened.

In her address on the occasion, the Union Finance Minister recognised the role played by PFMS in achieving the key goals of governance which included: reaching the last mile benefitting 60 crore beneficiaries, direct delivery of more than 1200 central and state schemes which includes 1100 DBT schemes, end-to-end digitization through integration with 250 plus external systems such as GeM, GSTIN, TIN 2.0, PM Kisan and many more.

Smt. Sitharaman said that PFMS has led to strengthening of cooperative federalism through integration of 31 state treasuries and 40 lakh programme implementing agencies enabling seamless financial management for millions of citizens ensuring timely and transparent disbursement of government funds.

The Union Finance Minister underlined PFMS as the network of networks with 650 financial institutions - RBI, NPCI, Public and Private sector banks - facilitating seamless fund transfers, with the volume of PFMS transactions has gone up exponentially from 2 crore payments in 2015 to 250 crore in 2024.

Referencing the July 2024 Union Budget, Smt. Sitharaman underlined the suggestion with respect to “improving data governance, collection, processing and management of data and statistics, different sectoral databases, including those established under the Digital India mission, could be utilized with active use of technology tools”, and added that CGA has the potential to work in this regard as the custodian of huge database. The Union Finance Minister emphasised on sharing India’s digital public finance expertise globally, and urged the CGA to collaborate with other countries to leverage PFMS’s technology to enhance their financial governance systems. Smt. Sitharaman also encouraged CGA to make efforts to create public awareness among citizens and taxpayers on how transparent financial systems operate.

In his address on the occasion, Dr. Manoj Govil recognised the efforts made by CGA and the team of officers towards timely laying of annual accounts, digitisation of accounts and timely discharge of payments and various achievements of PFMS bringing in efficient Public Financial Management. Dr. Govil emphasised on the need of harmonisation of Union and State Accounts including the Urban, Rural and Local Bodies so as to facilitate better financial reporting.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Shyam S. Dubey gave details of the achievements of the organisation during the year in the area of accounts, Public Financial Management and capacity building. Shri Dubey outlined the organisation's demonstrated robustness during the COVID-19 pandemic, transferring over Rs. 22.85 lakh crore, including DBT schemes.

Shri Dubey further informed the gathering of the recently developed functionality of electronic utilisation certificate (e-UC) and e-Asset module of PFMS-SAMPATI, enabling digital recording, tracking and management of capital physical assets as mandated by the FRBM Act.

The inaugural session was followed by keynote address by Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Chairman, 16^th Finance Commission, on “India in the Global Economy: The Next Decade.”

Calling PFMS as “incredible”, Dr. Panagariya stated that PFMS acts as a critical digital infrastructure to enable transactions between different economic entities efficiently and transparently. Dr. Panagariya stated that UPI & PFMS should be part of India’s international diplomatic outreach and global relationship, and called for greater integration of PFMS with the State Governments and Urban and Rural Local Bodies.

Despite the periodic global and domestic economic crises, Dr. Panagariya stated that the factual data of economic growth of the last two decades, starting from 2003-2004, shows the plausibility and the feasibility of the growth potential of the Indian economy in the coming decade being able to reach the 10 trillion dollar GDP mark, as well as the 2047 target of “Viksit Bharat” set by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.

Public Financial Management System strengthens transparent, integrated digital government payments and supports harmonised Union State financial reporting. The 49th foundation day noted the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) as a nationwide digital infrastructure that digitises government payments, integrates with multiple external systems and financial institutions, and improves transparency and direct delivery of scheme benefits. Officials stressed the need for harmonisation of Union and State accounts, including Urban, Rural and Local Bodies, to enable consistent financial reporting, and reported new PFMS functionalities such as electronic utilisation certificates and an e Asset module for tracking capital assets.