The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is an institution, serving as one of the six departments under the Union Government's Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance itself was formed on October 29, 1946. The DEA was established to be the nodal agency responsible for formulating and monitoring the country's economic policies and programmes, addressing the need for centralized management of domestic and international economic affairs.
The DEA works by formulating and monitoring macroeconomic policies, including issues related to fiscal policy, public finance, inflation, and public debt management. Its principal mechanism is the preparation and presentation of the annual Union Budget to Parliament, which also covers the Railway Budget and budgets for States under President's Rule. The DEA administers the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM), 2003, and manages the cadre of the Indian Economic Service (IES). It mobilizes external resources through multilateral and bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) and monitors foreign exchange resources, including the balance of payments.
The DEA connects directly to the Ministry of Finance and oversees institutions like the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). It engages with international bodies such as the World Bank Group, IMF, Asian Development Bank (ADB), G-20, and BRICS. Recently, the DEA was involved in the submission of the Sixteenth Finance Commission report in November 2025, which covers the award period from 2026-27 to 2030-31. It also issued a notification in May 2026 amending the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, to ease Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms.