The Ministry of Finance is organizing a Conference of State Finance Ministers and Finance Secretaries on "Financing India's Journey towards Viksit Bharat" scheduled for September 18-19, 2026, in New Delhi. The conference will be attended by the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, several Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers from States, and senior State officials.
The conference aims to address policy complementarities between the Centre and States, bringing together academic rigor and practical policy to deliberate on financing challenges and policy priorities for India's development journey. Smt. Anuradha Thakur, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, will highlight the conference objectives during the inaugural session.
Shri N.K. Singh, President and Life Trustee of the Institute of Economic Growth and Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, will deliver the keynote address. Shri Sudhir Shrivastava, former Additional Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary of Maharashtra, will present the State's perspective on financing Viksit Bharat.
The conference will feature three thematic sessions: Macroeconomic overview, Financing agricultural transformation, and Financing the energy transition. Each session will consist of two-hour deliberations supported by background papers circulated to participants covering topics including macroeconomic milestones and pathways towards Viksit Bharat, private financing for Viksit Bharat, implications of GST 2.0 for States, financing agricultural markets and marketing, financing resilience and sustainable resource use in Indian agriculture, financing renewable energy and transmission assets, and financing carbon capture utilization and storage.
Additionally, Dr. Saurabh Garg, Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, will highlight the importance of measuring growth outcomes in India's development journey, while Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will discuss the role of new-age technology in good governance.