India Archives – Decentralization Net

India’s fiscal equalization system: balancing equity and efficiency

April 24, 2026 LPS Alliance

Few countries embody the promise—and complexity—of multilevel governance as vividly as India. With a federal structure spanning more than 1.5 billion people, India’s intergovernmental fiscal system sits at the heart of its development trajectory. A […]

How India’s Sixteenth Finance Commission chose stability over disruption

February 8, 2026 LPS Alliance

The Finance Commission of India (FC) is one of India’s most credible institutions. It is a constitutional body whose function is to make recommendations to the Government of India on how to divide tax revenues […]

How intergovernmental fiscal transfers shape local democracy

January 19, 2026 LPS Alliance

Intergovernmental fiscal transfers are among the most powerful, and least visible, instruments in multilevel governance systems. They shape how resources flow across levels of government, determine the fiscal space available to local authorities, and influence […]

Do local gender quotas improve the electability of women at higher tiers?

September 23, 2025 LPS Alliance

One of the central promises of decentralization is that it can create political space for those historically excluded from power. In theory, local governance is the arena where marginalized voices—whether of caste, ethnicity, or gender—can […]

Effective multilevel governance and citizen engagement: billions of (dollar) reasons to care

August 18, 2025 LPS Alliance

With global development institutions in retreat, it is becoming more and more obvious that the public sector is unambiguously the primary enabler of ‘global’ development—capable of propelling development forward by embracing inclusive and effective multilevel […]

How does intergovernmental coordination strengthen local governance?

December 4, 2024 Marina Jandrevska

The crux of decentralization is that a multilevel public sector can produce better (more responsive and efficient) outcomes compared to a centralized public sector. An underlying–often unstated– assumption is that intergovernmental coordination mechanisms are in […]

India

How India’s Sixteenth Finance Commission chose stability over disruption

How intergovernmental fiscal transfers shape local democracy

Do local gender quotas improve the electability of women at higher tiers?

Effective multilevel governance and citizen engagement: billions of (dollar) reasons to care

How does intergovernmental coordination strengthen local governance?

Decentralization in School Management and Student Achievement: Evidence from India

The Forum of Federations Handbook of Fiscal Federalism

Climate Governance and Federalism

Does India love its local governments?