The GIFMIS vertical of PFMS looks after the treasury payments, the sanction module of ministries and entry of budget into the PFMS system, head wise budget allocation. It deals with Payments, collection of Payments, Accounting and financial reporting and is a comprehensive payment, receipt, and accounting system.
The Sanctions represent the fund commitment of Government of India, they consist of authorization to the PAO for carrying out the financial transactions on behalf of the Ministry/Department as pe the terms and conditions mentioned therein. The sanction letters are issued by the competent authority as define din the Delegation of financial Powers and include financial approval, amount to be accorded to the sanction, purpose of the funds sanctioned, accounting classification and terms and conditions of the amount sanctioned to Beneficiaries, Vendors, Third Party Agencies (Implementing Agencies), Scheme Implementing Agencies.
GIFMIS has comprehensive financial management functionalities such as Budget preparation, Accounts Compilation, Cash & Debt Management, HR module etc.
Launching the mandatory use of the tracking and monitoring system in 2017, the then Finance Minister expressed hope that PFMS would progress towards a Government-wide Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) - as a comprehensive payment, receipt, and accounting system. The move helped in tracking and monitoring the flow of funds to the implementing agencies, adding that it would help the government ascertain the actual status of utilization of funds by the multiple implementing agencies of the central and the state governments. From 2020, GIFMIS was made a separate vertical within PFMS division of CGA.
Furthermore, E-bill system was announced by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs during the Union Budget 2022 - 23. The same was launched on 3rd March 2022 on occasion of 46th Civil Accounts Day as part of 'Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and Digital India eco-system' and to bring in broader transparency and expedite the process of payments. It will enhance transparency, efficiency, and faceless-paperless payment system by allowing suppliers and contractors to submit their claim online which will be trackable on real time basis.
Thus, GIFMIS vertical is looking after that part of PFMS dealing with payments, collection of receipts, accounting, and financial reporting. Following are the functionalities and modules used:
- Payments- Expenditure Advance transfer (EAT) module for Implementing Agencies, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for beneficiaries
- Tax Receipts- Direct Tax Receipts comprises of Income Tax and Custom Tax paid by individuals this is accomplished through the PRAKALP application module. Indirect Tax receipts comprises of Accounting and Reconciliation, this is accomplished through the ARPIT portal. Non- Tax Receipts are for all Non-Tax Receipts, the module used is Bharat Kosh application.
- Reporting-All Monthly and Annual reports are generated and sent to the Finance Ministry through latest tools and technologies such as Decision Support System (DSS) and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing).
- Treasury Single A/c System (TSA)- It's used for cash management, release of just in time funds to ABs, minimize float with ABs, maintain autonomy of ABs. Agencies are required to open account with RBI, these agencies are given fund allocation in RBI as per their schemes, there is transfer at two levels TSA sanction, TSA assignment. The ministries transfer funds to head office from where the fund is allocated thereon. This is only applicable for autonomous bodies schemes grants. e-Kuber is the RBI system integrated with PFMS for this purpose
The pre-requisites for PAO are:
- Mapping of scheme.
- Availability of budget in the scheme.
For AB and Sub AB:
- Opening of new Bank Account in RBI
- Entry of new TSA bank account in PFMS by AB/sub- AB & get it approved from the concerned program division
- Enrolment of digital signature by authorized signatories of autonomous bodies/sub- autonomous bodies in PFMS if not already done
Just in Time (JIT)
It's against payment advice from RBI that funds are issued to agencies, this is called Just in Time (JIT Payments), the system is ensured. When a bill is raised all payments are made on time enable through the API integration as all external and standalone systems of Government of India (eg: GeM, GSTN) are integrated with PFMS. All documents are digitally signed, and payment receipts are fully automated process.
Employee Information System (EIS)
Salary payments are one of the major components of Revenue Expenditure of Government of India. The salary bill of a government employee is prepared and processed through the EIS, the payroll system for central government employees. This is an HR Management module and overall functionalities supported by EIS include-Regular Salary, Supplementary Bills, Subsistence Allowance for Suspended Employees, DA arrears, Arrears for Other Allowances, Deductions, Employee Personal Claims like Honorarium, Tuition Fee Reimbursement, Leave Encashment, Salary arrears, Overtime Allowance etc.