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What to expect from the Sixteenth Finance Commission?

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What to expect from the Sixteenth Finance Commission?

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The government on Sunday named former vice chairman of Niti Aayog and Columbia University professor Arvind Panagariya as the chairman of the Sixteenth Finance Commission (SFC), a constitutional body. Mint takes a look at what to expect from the SFC.

What is the role of finance commissions?

Finance commissions are independent constitutional bodies with a key role to play in the division of the Centre’s net tax proceeds between Central and state governments keeping in mind the fiscal needs of the states. All central taxes other than those meant for states and the specific surcharges and cesses levied by the Centre form part of this divisible pool of tax revenue. The finance commissions decide the extent of the Centre’s revenue to be shared with the states and the formula for dividing it among states. The commission is a key pillar of fiscal federalism.

Why were some states unhappy?

Revenue sharing among states is a controversial subject as resources are finite. The parameters have to accommodate the interests of all states while factoring in their various stages of development. When the Fifteenth Finance Commission was set up, one of the terms of reference was to use the population data of the 2011 census. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu complained saying that would reduce allocations for them as they had been successful in their population stabilisation initiatives. The panel then gave weight to population and ‘population performance’ for an equitable allocation.

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What has the Centre asked the SFC to do?

The Centre has kept the terms of reference of the SFC short and direct rather than prescriptive. The panel has been asked to also suggest ways to augment the consolidated funds of states to supplement the resources of local bodies such as panchayats. In addition, the SFC may lay down the principles for grants-in-aid.

What issues does the SFC need to address?

Panagariya is expected to address sustainability of debt at the Central and state levels. The Centre maintains it is on track to achieve its target of fiscal deficit below 4.5% of GDP by FY26, and that general government debt will decline in the medium to long term. The SFC is expected to look into this as well as revenue trends and expenditure obligations at the Central and state levels to make recommendations. Another key area that the panel is expected to look into is expenditure reforms at the state level.

What does the common man get?

Finance panels tend to recommend a higher share of devolved funds to states with low per capita income so those states can deliver public goods at levels comparable to that in other states. It also incentivises the fiscal performance of states, benefiting their citizens. The panel is also expected to look into the unfinished agenda of GST rate revision of some items that are now on the backburner due to high inflation. The SFC may also take into account the next central pay panel decisions.

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Frontier Airlines quietly makes huge change amid financial woes

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Frontier Airlines quietly makes huge change amid financial woes
Frontier Airlines is well known as a low-cost airline that doesn’t necessarily have the best perks, but provides cheap flights to many popular destinations. Unfortunately, this business model hasn’t been working out well for Frontier or for other airlines in the same space. While people …
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Blackstone backs Neysa in up to $1.2B financing as India pushes to build domestic AI infrastructure | TechCrunch

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Blackstone backs Neysa in up to .2B financing as India pushes to build domestic AI infrastructure | TechCrunch

Neysa, an Indian AI infrastructure startup, has secured backing from U.S. private equity firm Blackstone as it scales domestic compute capacity amid India’s push to build homegrown AI capabilities.

Blackstone and co-investors, including Teachers’ Venture Growth, TVS Capital, 360 ONE Assets, and Nexus Venture Partners, have agreed to invest up to $600 million of primary equity in Neysa, giving Blackstone a majority stake, Blackstone and Neysa told TechCrunch. The Mumbai-headquartered startup also plans to raise an additional $600 million in debt financing as it expands GPU capacity, a sharp increase from the $50 million it had raised previously.

The deal comes as demand for AI computing surges globally, creating supply constraints for specialized chips and data center capacity needed to train and run large models. Newer AI-focused infrastructure providers — often referred to as “neo-clouds” — have emerged to bridge that gap by offering dedicated GPU capacity and faster deployment than traditional hyperscalers, particularly for enterprises and AI labs with specific regulatory, latency, or customisation requirements.

Neysa operates in this emerging segment, positioning itself as a provider of customized, GPU-first infrastructure for enterprises, government agencies, and AI developers in India, where demand for local compute is still at an early but rapidly expanding stage.

“A lot of customers want hand-holding, and a lot of them want round-the-clock support with a 15-minute response and a couple of our resolutions. And so those are the kinds of things that we provide that some of the hyperscalers don’t,” said Neysa co-founder and CEO Sharad Sanghi.

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Nesya co-founder and CEO Sharad SanghiImage Credits:Neysa

Ganesh Mani, a senior managing director at Blackstone Private Equity, said his firm estimates that India currently has fewer than 60,000 GPUs deployed — and it expects the figure to scale up nearly 30 times to more than two million in the coming years.

That expansion is being driven by a combination of government demand, enterprises in regulated sectors such as financial services and healthcare that need to keep data local, and AI developers building models within India, Mani told TechCrunch. Global AI labs, many of which count India among their largest user bases, are also increasingly looking to deploy computing capacity closer to users to reduce latency and meet data requirements.

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The investment also builds on Blackstone’s broader push into data center and AI infrastructure globally. The firm has previously backed large-scale data centre platforms such as QTS and AirTrunk, as well as specialized AI infrastructure providers including CoreWeave in the U.S. and Firmus in Australia.

Neysa develops and operates GPU-based AI infrastructure that enables enterprises, researchers, and public sector clients to train, fine-tune, and deploy AI models locally. The startup currently has about 1,200 GPUs live and plans to sharply scale that capacity, targeting deployments of more than 20,000 GPUs over time as customer demand accelerates.

“We are seeing a demand that we are going to more than triple our capacity next year,” Sanghi said. “Some of the conversations we are having are at a fairly advanced stage; if they go through, then we could see it sooner rather than later. We could see in the next nine months.”

Sanghi told TechCrunch that the bulk of the new capital will be used to deploy large-scale GPU clusters, including compute, networking and storage, while a smaller portion will go toward research and development and building out Neysa’s software platforms for orchestration, observability, and security.

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Neysa aims to more than triple its revenue next year as demand for AI workloads accelerates, with ambitions to expand beyond India over time, Sanghi said. Founded in 2023, the startup employs 110 people across offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai.

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