CAG outlines digital reforms to strengthen financial accountability

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) K. Sanjay Murthy on Sunday outlined a series of reforms and digital initiatives aimed at strengthening financial accountability and supporting the country’s goal of Viksit Bharat@2047, as the institution marked Audit Diwas.

Speaking at the event, attended by Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan, Murthy said November 16 holds historic significance as the day India’s first Auditor General assumed office in 1860. “Audit Diwas is an occasion to reflect on the CAG’s legacy and reaffirm its core values of integrity and accountability,” he said.

Murthy said the organisation has drafted a Strategic Plan 2030, which realigns its priorities across ten key areas to reinforce its role as an enabler of good governance. A central aspect of the roadmap is more frequent and structured engagement with audited entities to ensure timely inputs and more useful audit products.

Highlighting recent initiatives, he cited the second Conference of Finance Secretaries and the publication of a first-of-its-kind decadal report on State Finances, aimed at providing policymakers with deeper analytical insights. Public finance data is also being made available through dashboards to enhance transparency and support research.

The CAG has developed “maturity matrices” to help State entities, including urban local bodies and power distribution companies, assess the quality of their financial statements. “These tools will help institutions understand the support they require and track improvements over time,” Murthy said.

He announced the launch of the nationwide ‘CAG–ICSSR Colloquium Series’ to make audit findings more accessible to academics, researchers and the public. The first event was recently organised in Delhi, with similar sessions planned across all States over the next six months.

Digital transformation was a key focus of his address. With governments increasingly adopting a digital-first approach, the CAG is moving to remote and hybrid audits backed by data analytics. Mandatory desk reviews of auditee databases before field audits are helping identify outliers and ensure more focused scrutiny.

Murthy also launched the CAG-Connect Portal, which links nearly one million auditee entities with audit offices in real time, improving traceability and transparency. Another initiative in development is CAG-LLM (Large Language Model), an indigenous system designed to analyse decades of audit knowledge and improve audit insights. With over 20,000 inspection reports generated annually, Murthy said this system will significantly enhance auditor performance.

Among new priority audit areas, the CAG is undertaking a nationwide review of Ease of Living in 101 major cities, examining infrastructure, sustainability and local economic growth. It is also auditing Ease of Doing Business, with a focus on MSMEs, and conducting a pan-India audit of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy to assess progress in basic education.

In line with the PM Gati Shakti initiative, the CAG would audit India’s multi-modal transport and logistics ecosystem, including the Indian Railways. Consultations have already been held with ministries, port authorities, freight operators and other stakeholders.

Murthy said the institution is building a “future-ready workforce” through training collaborations with IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIM Kozhikode, BISAG-N and CEPT University. Over 250 officers are currently undergoing certification in data science, AI and cybersecurity, with a target of training 5,000 officers in five years.

He also noted India currently chairs the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) and several committees under the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The CAG is also the external auditor for five UN agencies.