This book is an attempt to focus the attention on the sound economic ideas, magnificent financial management prevalent in ancient India. To start with a comparative position of ancient India and other ancient seats of civilization in this regard has been highlighted. The principles of Taxation, classification of Revenues–both from tax and non-tax sources and various taxes in vogue such as Land Revenue, Customs, Excise Duty, Sales Tax, Excess Profits Tax, Octroi etc. and also revenue from non-tax sources feature in the few subsequent chapters. The principles of expenditure and classification of State expenditure–Military, Civil and Welfare-oriented expenditures–are dealt with in the next few chapters. Financial Administration and methods of Accounting and also Budget including performance budget have been discussed. The findings of this book are based not only on the literary sources but also on the epigraphical evidences.

This is the first book to study taxation and revenue collection through a detailed analysis of public finance and financial administration in four major Indian texts, namely Mahabharata, Manusmriti, Shukranitisar and Arthashastra, as philosophers trained in the Indian classic tradition and scholars working on ancient Indian wisdom mostly prefer a more abstract approach. India has a long tradition of at least two millennia of active philosophizing in the fields of logic, ethics, epistemology and metaphysics, though many in the West feel hesitant in according it the title “philosophy” in their sense of the word. Furthermore, few in India have taken it beyond philosophy towards active knowledge. This book re-visits and re-interprets the contexts of these texts with logic and objectivity to bring the pearls of knowledge found within into the present day, showing that Sanskrit is still the lingua franca of intellectual dialogue in India.

Explores financial aspects of constitutional government, focusing on central banking, sovereign borrowing, taxation and public expenditure.

Considers such issues as the effect of local government policies on migration, the optimal size of cities, tax and expenditure capitalization, the economics of intergovernmental transfers, tax exporting and tax competition.

With reference to India.

This book is an analytical examination of financing and public service delivery challenges in a decentralized framework. It also provides critical insights into the effectiveness of public expenditure, through benefit incidence analysis of education and healthcare services in India. The benefits of decentralization always come with conflicts and trade-offs. By unpacking the process of decentralization, the authors identify that 'unfunded mandates', arising from the asymmetry between finances and functions at local levels, are a major challenge. The analysis is carried out by distilling the existing studies in this area, and through an empirical investigation of public finance data at different public sector levels in India, as well as in some selected developing countries. Using the household survey statistics of consumption expenditure, an analysis of utilization or benefit incidence of public spending on social sectors in India is achieved, covering education and health sectors. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Book Attempts To Deal With All The Important Aspects Of Taxation From The Earliest Times In India Upto The Gupta Period. Besides, It Aims To Present A Comparative Study Of The Priciples And Tenets Of Ancient Indian Tax System And The Modern Fiscal Developments.

Part 1 deals with the life of Prof. A.L. Basham and his 80 letters addressed to the author. Part 2 covers the `colourful complexities of early Indian political, socio-economic, religious and cultural life', (p. xi).