NITI can't boast of any significant achievement in its 8-month career, point out the Opposition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi - in his Independence Day speech last year - had announced the dismantling of the Planning Commission of India to make way for "a new institution having a new design and structure".
A year later, the most visible change has been the change of a name plate. Yojana Bhavan, which once housed the Planning Commission, is now home to Modi government's NITI or National Institution Transforming India.
But NITI can't boast of any significant achievement in its 8-month career.
The decision to involve Chief Ministers for drafting reports on key issues has extended the timelines. Three Chief Ministers -- Chandrababu Naidu, Parkash Singh Badal and Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- are yet to submit their reports on key issues such as Swacch Bharat, skill development and social sector schemes.
NITI's plan to hire private consultants and domain experts is still a work in progress and nearly six months were spent only to halve its staff strength from the erstwhile 1,200 posts.
"We simply can't pack up people and ask them to leave. The process of identifying the right people and then sending the others back to their parent ministries take time," said a mid-level official.
There have been other delays too. For a government that's pushing digital revolution, NITI has got its website just a couple of months ago. But most importantly, without the power to allocate development funds, NITI has no financial clout unlike its previous avatar.
All this has prompted the Opposition parties to conclude that NITI has become ineffective.
"NITI Ayog is only two-and-a-half person ayog. I haven't seen any paper moving, any work being done by NITI Ayog,"said P Chidambaram, the former Finance Minister.
NITI Ayog officials disagree. They claim it is giving shape to the government's priorities, including key areas like agriculture, poverty reduction, Swacch Bharat, skill development and job creation.
Noted economist and NITI member Bibek Debroy told NDTV: "Prime Minister didn't say that he would do everything in a year. Something like a NITI wouldn't happen at the wave of a magic wand."