The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) is delighted to invite you to a seminar titled “What Odisha Got Right and the Way Forward for its Finances” jointly organised by CSEP and India Public Finance Collaborative (IPFC). The seminar will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2026, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm (IST) at the CSEP Auditorium, 6, Dr Jose P Rizal Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021.

The event will commence with a keynote address by Jugal Mohapatra, Chairman, Committee on Administrative and Governance Reforms, and Former Chief Secretary, Odisha. This will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Amarjeet Sinha, Senior Fellow, CSEP; Prabhat Kumar, Director, PFM, Janagraha; and Devashish Deshpande, Senior Technical Advisor, Strategic Public Finance (SPF), CEGIS. The session will be moderated by Shruti Gupta, Research Associate, CSEP.

Please note that this is an in-person event only. If you are in Delhi on the day, we invite you to join us for what promises to be a thought-provoking discussion. The event will be available on the CSEP website and YouTube channel upon completion.

Register here to attend

About the event

More than 20 years ago, Odisha was in a fiscal crisis. The state was spending far more than it earned, bore heavy debt, and struggled to pay its own bills. Today, it runs consistent surplus, and its debt burden is one of the lowest compared to any other large state. This is a fascinating turnaround. This session explores the key drivers of this transformation, including the FRBM Act, mining royalty reforms, expenditure controls, and reliance on non-tax revenues. While this has delivered fiscal stability, it has also created concerns like tax complacency and vulnerability to global price shocks. The discussion will also examine persistent underutilisation of budgets and the continuing lag in human development indicators despite strong finances. Has Odisha’s fiscal prudence laid a strong foundation for sustainable growth? What governance and implementation challenges still remain unaddressed?

We look forward to your participation in the seminar.

Keynote Speaker

Jugal Mohapatra is a postgraduate in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (1977). He also has a Master’s degree in Economics from Boston University, USA (1992).

He joined the Odisha cadre of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in1979. He held many senior-level positions in the State Govt., including the post of Secretary (Rural Development), Secretary (Revenue), Secretary (Public Enterprises), Secretary to the Chief Minister, Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance). He was also the Chief Secretary to Odisha Government in 2013-14. In the Central Govt., he served as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development during 2004-09. Subsequently, during 2014-16, he was Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Fertilisers and Rural Development.

Post-retirement, he completed his doctoral research from XIM University, Bhubaneswar. He was the President of the Odisha Economic Association during 2023-24.

Currently, he is the Chairman of the Committee on Administrative and Governance Reforms constituted by the Government of Odisha.

Discussants

Amarjeet Sinha

Amarjeet Sinha is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress. From 2022-24, Amarjeet served as Member Public Enterprises Selection Board. He was earlier posted as Advisor to the Prime Minister till 31 July 2021. An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer of Bihar Cadre of 1983 batch, he retired in December 2019 as Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of India. He has 41 years of experience in Government, largely in the rural and social sector. He has had the unique distinction of having played a major role in designing Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (India’s main programme for universal education), the National Rural Health Mission, in bringing about governance reforms in programmes for rural areas covering livelihoods (NRLM), employment (MGNREGS), housing (PMAY Gramin), social security (NSAP), skills (DDUGKY), urban development, and road construction (PMGSY).

Amarjeet has taught and lectured in many Public Policy Schools in India. He teaches two courses at the Advanced Management Programme for Public Policy (AMPPP), the flagship public policy course of the Indian School of Business. He also runs a Public Policy in Practice Course for the Institute of Rural Management, Anand. He teaches a course on Devolution, Development and Democracy at Ashoka University. He delivered the ICSSR Annual Lecture 2022 on Bridging the Last Mile in Pro-Poor Public Welfare. He is also an Advisor to Sampark Foundation for frugal innovations on scale in education, on Health and Human Development with the Centre for Social and Economic Progress. He is a Member of the Jury for The Indian Express Governance Awards. He Chaired a committee for suggesting reforms in the MGNREGS, which submitted its report on 4th June 2023. Amarjeet Chairs the Gender Expert Committee of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. He is also on the Board of the Indian Institute of Health Management and Research, New Delhi, HelpAge India, PRADAN, and the Centre for Studying Developing Societies (CSDS).

A student at St. Stephen’s College, he topped the Delhi University and is a recipient of the National Talent Scholarship, the Rhodes Scholarship and the Oxford Cambridge Society of India Scholarship. He has also been the President of the St. Stephen’s College Students’ Union Society.

Prabhat Kumar

Prabhat Kumar serves as Director – Public Finance at Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a Bengaluru-based institution working to improve governance and quality of life in India’s cities.

He is a leading specialist in strengthening urban governance and fiscal systems in India. Prabhat works closely with senior leadership across Union and State governments and key constitutional bodies including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Union and State Finance Commissions. His work focuses on designing and enabling long-term reforms in public financial management and state capability.

Prabhat is a member of the Government of India’s steering committee for revising the National Municipal Accounting Manual. He also played a key role in initiating the India Public Finance Collaborative and convening partners to advance public finance reforms in India. An IIT Roorkee alumnus with prior experience in finance and consulting, he operates at the intersection of policy, finance, technology, and institutional transformation.

Devashish Deshpande 

Devashish Deshpande is Vice President and Head of the Strategic Public Finance practice at CEGIS Foundation, where he provides technical leadership on engagements across Finance and Line departments in several states. CEGIS’ work spans revenue optimization and the quality and allocative efficiency of government expenditure — across social and economic sectors — with an orientation toward strengthening fiscal decision-making. He has been with CEGIS for six years. Prior to CEGIS, he worked at the Foundation for Economic Development, Centre for Policy Research, and Kantar Public Affairs. He holds a background in economics and public policy, and has been a member of the IPFC since 2025.

Moderator

Shruti Gupta

Shruti Gupta is a Research Associate in the Fiscal Governance team within the Growth, Finance, and Development vertical. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Ashoka University. Her research focuses on Public Finance Management, with a particular emphasis on addressing fiscal challenges in India. She aims to build a career in the domain of public policy.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.

Please contact Gurmeet Kaur at GKaur@csep.org for general queries and Ayesha Manocha at AManocha@csep.org for media queries.