| On January 27, 2005 Dana Weist, Lead Public Sector Specialist for the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Public Sector Unit, shared the findings of her research on decentralization and urban financing in India with colleagues at the World Bank headquarters in Washington. The presentation, entitled “The Challenge of Urban Finance and Governance in India: Findings from Three Indian States,” was part of the South Asia Decentralization Series, sponsored by the Bank’s South Asia Region.
Weist’s study examined decentralization and urban finance in the Indian states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to determine which institutional arrangements have promoted or impeded expected outcomes and to assess the implications of these arrangements on the financing and delivery of services. Weist asserted that the challenge of urban finance and governance in India is a classic example of incomplete decentralization, in which responsibility does not match funding levels, accountability and capacity are weak, and local autonomy and state control are not balanced in ways that create incentives to improve performance.
Sonia Hamman, Sector Manager for the South Asia Region’s Energy and Infrastructure Unit, moderated the event, and Navin Girishankar, Senior Public Sector Specialist for PREM’s Africa Unit, served as discussant. A question and answer period followed the presentation. Topics addressed included the parallel experience of political decentralization in India, the role of a consolidated fiscal transfer system, identifying impediments to reform, and the experience of state finance commissions.
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