Sitharaman suggested that the CGA examine whether it would be possible to make the government’s annual accounts more user-friendly. She also asked the central government’s accounting adviser to engage with counterparts in states to promote the adoption of the single nodal agency (SNA) system.
Most of the large schemes are already routed through this system, which the minister said has helped save more than Rs 11,000 crore since 2021-22.
“The CGA and the Department of Expenditure should ensure that the SNA-SPARSH rollout is smoothly facilitated for all the applicable schemes in the upcoming financial year and the CGA should handhold states in seamless onboarding and transition to SNA-SPARSH and convince them about the benefits of this reform for quick adoption,” Sitharaman said in her address on the 49th Civil Accounts Day celebrations in New Delhi.Greater Transparency
SNA-SPARSH is a system for simplified payment and reconciliation for centrally sponsored schemes.
The system has helped consolidate unspent balance parked in more than 1.5 million bank accounts of implementing agencies across India into 4,500 bank accounts of the single nodal agency, bringing greater transparency, Sitharaman said. Referring to the Public Finance Management System (PFMS), she said it has facilitated direct financial assistance to farmers through state-specific schemes such as Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu scheme, and swift and transparent disbursement of aid during natural disasters like the Kerala floods. The PFMS has also been leveraged for timely and accurate student payments in Maharashtra and pension scheme payments in several states, the minister said.
Onboarding of states into these platforms will also boost the richness of data, she said. In her budget for 2024-25 presented in July last year, Sitharaman had suggested improving governance, collection, processing and management of data and statistics with active use of technology tools. The CGA, she said Saturday, has the potential to work in this regard, given that PFMS has a huge dataset. “I would also like you to examine, in consultation with C&AG (Comptroller and Auditor General), whether it would be possible to make the annual accounts more approachable and user-friendly and allow citizens to analyse easily and generate customisable and simpler reports,” Sitharaman said. The finance minister noted that India’s digital payment systems and public financial management are being recognised globally, with many countries expressing interest in India’s digital payment interface (DPI).
The achievements of the PFMS are no less than that of the DPI, she said. “You should engage with different countries and tell them how you have developed greater transparency in public accounts and public financial management, emphasising how the IMF has recognised it,” Sitharaman said, adding that a lot of countries will be interested in it and to see how best they integrate and fit into their own systems.
