The reports of successive finance commissions make it clear that the institution of the finance commission is progressively getting trapped in a cul-de-sac. The reports have become a ritual and for the most part have hardly anything new to contribute though the fiscal position of the states and the centre has deteriorated sharply over time. The elaborate quinquennial exercise, lasting over three years on each occasion and involving intensive discussion with all the state governments and central ministries, academics, representatives of trade and industry and other knowledgeable persons, has hardly thrown up any new idea. The successive commissions have instead merely tinkered with the percentages of horizontal distribution among the states along with effecting marginal increases in central devolution.
