Regional Training Institute : Shillong

REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE : SHILLONG INDIAN AUDIT AND ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT

RESULTS OF THE SEMINAR ON “Reduction/Elimination of Cash in Government transactions- THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT” held in partnership with RESERVE BANK OF INDIA at Guwahati on 9th and 10th February 2011. From the Principal Director’s Desk

FOREWORD

The successive perspective plans in the areas of training in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department have emphasized the need for Regional Training Institutes to work as Growth Centres.

As a part of our pursuit towards achieving the objective of working as a Growth Centre a seminar on “Reduction/Elimination of Cash in Government transactions- THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT” in partnership with the Guwahati Branch of RESERVE BANK OF INDIA was held at Guwahati on 9th and 10th February 2011.

The participants included the officials from the State Governments and the Indian Audit and Accounts Department working in the seven north-eastern States under the jurisdiction of the Guwahati Branch of Reserve Bank of India.

The objective of the seminar was to involve the Indian Audit and Accounts Department in assessment of the changes in their working on account of implementation of Electronic Clearance Systems (ECS) and its variants in the settlement of monetary transactions.

At the time of finalization of the proceedings of the Seminar I am extremely happy to report that the State Government of Mizoram has agreed to associate with Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Audit and Accounts Department at the level of the Principal Secretary (Finance) to carry the initiative forward. The response from the State Governments of Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam and Nagaland has also been encouraging. I am hopeful that all the seven State Governments would whole-heartedly utilise the benefits of these initiatives.

I would like to place my heartfelt thanks to

(1) Shri Mahadev Omkare, Core Faculty and Thomas Sebastian, Core Faculty for their efforts in organizing the Seminar and bring out this publication, the first by Regional Training Institute, Shillong. (2) Shri D.K. Pradhan, Core Faculty for taking on the administrative responsibilities for the organisation of the seminar,

I would like to record my heartfelt gratitude to Shri Amitabh Mukhophadyay, Director General (Training), Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for having been the moving spirit behind this.

Special mention is required to be made of the inputs provided by Shri Atul Prakash, Deputy Accountant General in the Office of the Accountants General (Audit) Nagaland. I also would like to thank Shri A.W.K. Langstieh, Principal Accountants General (Audit) Meghalaya for being supportive and encouraging us to pursue the initiative.

I am grateful to all the Principal Accountants General / Accountants General of the States of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur for the cooperation provided by them.

I also take the opportunity to thank the State Governments of Meghalaya, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram and their representatives for making this seminar a success.

Last but not the least my special gratitude for Ms. Surekha Marandi, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati, Shri Thotngam Jamang, Deputy General Manager, Reserve Bank of India and Shri Abhijit Bosu, Assistant General Manager, Reserve Bank of India for their support throughout this Seminar.

The encouragement provided by the senior management of Indian Audit and Accounts Department under Sri Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and Sri Narendra Singh, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General is the single biggest reason for the conduct of this seminar.

I hope that the readers would benefit from these documents. Their suggestions, if any, would help us in improving in future.

VISHAL BANSAL PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR Dated: 8th March 2011 REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE, SHILLONG RESULTS OF SEMINAR ON “Reduction / Elimination of Cash in Government transaction – The way forward towards integrated financial Management” in partnership with Reserve Bank of India at Guwahati on 9th and 10 February 2011

INDEX Pages

1. Proceedings of the Seminar 1-4

2. Annexure –I-List of participants to the Seminar 5-6

3. Annexure II- Presentation by Shri Vishal Bansal, 9-15 Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Shillong

4. Annexure-III-Presentation by Shri. P.Vasudevan, 16-25 DGM, Dept of Payment & Settelement System, Central Office Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai

5. Annexure IV- Presentation by Shi. Th.Kiran 26-32 Kumar Singh, Director, Treasuries and Accounts, Government of Manipur

6. Annexure V – Presentation by Shri Vishal Bansal, 33 Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Shillong PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEMINAR ON “Reduction/Elimination of Cash in Government transactions- THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT” in partnership with RESERVE BANK OF INDIA at Guwahati on 9th and 10th February 2011.

A Seminar on “Reduction/Elimination of Cash in Government transactions- THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT” in partnership with Reserve Bank of India was organized by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India at Guwahati on 9th and 10th February 2011.

The Seminar was inaugurated and chaired by Shri A.W.K Langstieh, Principal Accountant General (Audit) Meghalaya.

The participants included Principal Accountants General / Accountants General of the States of Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura, representatives from the Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training Institute, Shillong and Senior Officers from the State Governments of Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura and representative of State Bank of India, Local Head Office, Guwahati. The list of participants is enclosed as Annexure-I.

The Seminar was conducted in six sessions spread across two days.

The session-wise proceedings of the seminar are as under.

9 th February – Session- I

The Session was inaugurated and chaired by Shri A.W.K Langstieh, Principal Accountant General (Audit) Meghalaya. It was followed by a speech by Ms. Surekha Marandi, Regional Director of Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati.

9 th February – Session- II

A presentation on behalf of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) was made by Shri Vishal Bansal, Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Shillong. Copy is annexed as Annexure-II

9 th February – Session- III & Session IV

A presentation on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India was made by Shri P. Vasudevan, Deputy General Manager, Department of Payment & Settlement Systems, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Mumbai. Copy is annexed as Annexure- III. He exhorted that use be made of various electronic payment products like ECS /RECS, NEFT,, Mobile Banking Channel, ATMs as also the Pre-paid Payment instruments to suit different requirements of the State Governments for their payments and receipts. 10 th February – Session- I

A presentation on behalf of the Government of Manipur on implementation of ECS payments in Manipur was made by Shri Thokchom Kiran Kumar Singh, Director, Treasuries and Accounts, Government of Manipur. Copy is annexed as Annexure-IV.

10 th February – Session- II

After detailed deliberations, the Seminar concluded that

- It was desirable to use various electronic payment products for receipts and payments of the State Government and its instrumentalities, depending on the nature and volume of transactions.

- It was also agreed that there was a need for having working arrangement for incorporating the needs of all the stakeholders.

- The working arrangement would also expedite the pace of resolving issues and incorporating the requirements of all the stakeholders.

- The position in different states would be different and hence the working arrangements would have to be State-specific with periodical interaction amongst various individual working groups for interchange of practices and ideas. However, the State-specific approach would be the best in terms of effectiveness and relevance given the variations in the processes that can exist amongst the States.

- The various stake-holders were identified as

(i) Government of India to be represented by Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. (ii) State Government to represented by their Finance Departments (iii) Accountants General Offices in the States of Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura (both Audit and Accounts) (iv) Reserve Bank of India, as regulator / supervisor / business owner / operator of various payment system products and banker to the State Governments. (v) Regional Training Institute, Shillong for identification of training needs required consequent to the changes.

It was also decided to have Reserve Bank of India to act as Secretary of these working groups. The meeting would be held at State Government Headquarters / Reserve Bank of India Headquarters at Guwahati.

The senior most official present will be the Chairperson.

Accordingly, the following State-specific working groups were constituted. Name of the Representative Representative of Representative of Representative of Representative of Representative of State of Department State Government. Accountant General Accountant General Reserve Bank of India Regional Training of Department of (Audit) (Accounts) Institute, Shillong Expenditure, Finance for purpose of using Ministry of developments for Finance, their training Government of inputs. India

Principal Secretary Accountant General or Regional Director, Principal Director, MIZORAM To be (Finance) or his/her his / her representative To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training nominated representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri Mahadev Omkare, Core Faculty

Principal Secretary Accountant General or Regional Director, Principal Director, TRIPURA To be (Finance) or his/her his / her representative To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training nominated representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri Mahadev Omkare, Core Faculty

Principal Secretary Principal Accountant Regional Director, Principal Director, ASSAM To be (Finance) or his/her General or his / her To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training nominated representative representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri Mahadev Omkare, Core Faculty

Principal Secretary Accountant General or Regional Director, Principal Director, NAGALAND To be (Finance) or his/her his / her representative To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training nominated representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri Thomas Sebastian, Core Faculty

Principal Secretary Accountant General or Regional Director, Principal Director, ARUNACHAL To be (Finance) or his/her his / her representative To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training PRADESH nominated representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri Thomas Sebastian, Core Faculty

Principal Secretary Principal Accountant Regional Director, Principal Director, MEGHALAYA To be (Finance) or his/her General or his / her To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training nominated representative representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri D.K. Pradhan, Core Faculty

Principal Secretary Accountant General or Regional Director, Principal Director, MANIPUR To be (Finance) or his/her his / her representative To be nominated Reserve Bank of India, Regional Training nominated representative Guwahati or his / her Institute, Shillong or representative his / her representative Shri D.K. Pradhan, Core Faculty Besides a working group for assessing training inputs arising out of the developments was set up comprising of Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Shillong and Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati who would associate officials from various stakeholders for assessing the needs, on need basis.

Meetings of the working group be held six monthly for each State. The meetings of a group of working groups can be held as and when Reserve Bank of India feels the need for sharing of practices and ideas. Individual working groups can request Reserve Bank of India to hold a meeting of some working groups when such an issue requiring coordinated approach arises.

The framework shall be processed for implementation by the Secretaries of the State- specific Working Groups.

Further the Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Shillong while concluding the proceedings highlighted the importance of involvement of Principal Accountants General / Accountants General (both audit and accounts) in all such measures / changes which are initiated by the State Governments through a presentation which is enclosed as Annexure-V, which highlighted the changes that may / would take place on account of implementation of Electronic Clearance System in Manipur had the Accountants General Offices (both audit and accounts) had been actively engaged in the process of change.

All the participants concluded that achievement of the Seminar in terms of creating awareness about the process of change, identification of stakeholders and creation of a structure which can act as a growth centre for furtherance of the dissemination and implementation of the best practices as they are identified and implemented was far more than what any participants expected at the start of the Seminar.

All the participants complemented the organisations of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Reserve Bank of India for having visualized such an arrangement.

VISHAL BANSAL

Principal Director, REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE, INDIAN AUDIT & ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT NORTH EASTERN REGION LACHATELETTE COMPLEX LAITUMKHRAH, SHILLONG – 793 003

PHONE (0364) 2222594, 2210203, 2220381 FAX (0364) 2223314 E-mail: [email protected] ANNEXURE-I

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE SEMINAR ON “Reduction/Elimination of Cash in Government transactions - THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT” in partnership with RESERVE BANK OF INDIA at Guwahati on 9th and 10th February 2011.

Sl. Participants from Indian Audit & Designation No. Accounts Department

1. Shri A.W.K. Langstieh Principal Accountant General (Audit) Meghalaya (Chairman) 2. Shri Mohinder Singh Principal Accountant General (Audit) Assam 3. Shri Rajesh Singh Accountant General, Nagaland 4. Shri L. Tochhawng Accountant General, Mizoram 5. Shri John K. Sellate Accountant General, Tripura 6. Shri Stephen Hongray Accountant General, Manipur 7. Shri Vishal Bansal Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Shillong 8. Shri Samir De Deputy Accountant General, O/o PAG (Audit) Assam 9. Shri Suklabaidya Deputy Accountant General, O/o. Accountant General, Arunachal Pradesh 10. Shri Mahadev Omkare Core Faculty, RTI, Shillong 11. Shri Thomas Sebastian Core Faculty, RTI, Shillong 12. Shri D.K. Pradhan Core Faculty, RTI, Shillong

Sl. Participants from Designation No. Reserve Bank of India 1. Smt. Surekha Marandi Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati 2. Shri P Vasudevan General Manager, Reserve Bank of India , Mumbai 3. Shri Thotngam Jamang Deputy General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati 4. Shri Abhijit Bosu Assistant General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati 5. Shri Santosh Kumar Assistant General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai

Sl. Participants from Designation No. State Bank of India 1. Shri Shantanu Roy Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India, Local Head Office, Guwahati Sl. Participants from Designation No. State Government 1. Shri H.S. Das Principal Secretary (Finance), Government of Assam 2. Shri Rajeev Joshi Commissioner and Secretary (Finance) Government of Assam 3. Shri R.K. Buzar Baruah Director (Finance) Budget Department Government of Assam 4. Shri Anjan Chakraborty Joint Secretary Finance (Budget Department) Government of Assam 5. Shri Th. Kiran Kumar Singh Director, Treasuries and Accounts, Manipur 6. Shri Bora Director, Accounts and Treasuries, Assam 7. Dr. Lalawmpuia Under Secretary Finance, Government of Mizoram 8. Shri Kheya OSD (Revenue) Government of Nagaland 9. Shri K.S. Momin Director of Accounts & Treasuries Government of Meghalaya 10. Shri M. Lyngdoh OSD (Finance) Government of Meghalaya