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Methodology
What goes into the Fiscal Centralisation Index
FCI averages six components. Four are published fiscal ratios, each min-max normalised over the years it is published: the cess and surcharge share of the Union's gross tax revenue, tax devolution as a share of gross tax revenue (inverted), states' own revenue as a share of their revenue receipts (inverted), and non-Finance-Commission grants as a share of total Union transfers. Two are coded: the reform conditions on extra borrowing in 2020-21 and the GST, phased in from 2017 to full weight when compensation ended in 2022. The sources are the 15th and 16th Finance Commission reports, the Union Receipt Budgets and the RBI Handbook.
What follows. The four measured ratios come from audited public accounts. The two coded components are judgements, and the method page sets them out.
Fiscal Centralisation Index, 0 to 1
2004-2013 average 0.30; 2014-2026 average 0.43; latest 0.35 in 2026. Source, method and every year.
One of 37 readings of the dataset. Data vintage 2026-10-19. Cite as Raman, V.S., Some Perspective: India's Political Economy, 2004-2026, someperspective.info, CC BY 4.0.