India ranks high on budget transparency

MUMBAI: India enjoys a high rating when it comes to budget transparency practices. It ranks 14th among the 100 countries that were surveyed. Its open budget index score of 68 out of 100 is much higher than the average score of 43 for all countries covered in the Global Open Budget Survey 2012.

The results of the survey were released on Wednesday by The International Budget Partnership (IBP). According to IBP, India's current score indicates that the government provides significant information on its budget and financial activities during the year, enabling Indian citizens to hold the government accountable for management of public money.

India continues to occupy the same rank as in 2010. However, its score, which is based on various parameters largely relating to availability of budget information, has increased slightly from 67 in 2010 to 68 in 2012, and is the highest in South Asia. The survey is carried out every two years, and in 2010, India had a rank of 20 with a score of 60. A score between 34 and 66 is regarded as moderate and anything above that is considered strong.

On the global level, the findings of the survey paint a bleak picture of budget transparency, participation and overall accountability. National budgets of 77 countries (which are home to half the world's population) fail to meet the basic standards of transparency. The governments of 21 countries do not even publish the executive budget proposal, which is the most critical document for understanding how the government plans to manage the country's finances. The worst performers include Bolivia, China, Equatorial Guinea, Qatar, newly democratic Myanmarand Zambia. Only six countries among those surveyed, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, Sweden,Norway and France, released extensive budget information.

While India's has achieved a good score, the Indian government has the potential to further expand budget transparency by introducing a number of measures, says the India-specific data released by the IBP. To improve budget transparency, the IBP suggests drafting and publishing a pre-budget statement. "A pre-budget statement is very much feasible and would help in getting information which can then be used to directly influence the actual budget. Introducing this will also substantially improve India's open budget index score," explains Ravi Duggal, India-based program officer, IBP.

India is identified as 'weak' when it comes to public participation in the budget process. Subrat Das, director, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, the research agency which conducted the India-specific survey, says: "For the past few years, the finance minister has begun to meet not merely representatives from commerce and trade, but also select representatives from social sectors, but this process can be strengthened. Such meetings should take place in October-November, as by January, it is too late to influence expenditure proposals."