Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) that will include the government’s four-year plan to monetise its brownfield infrastructure assets. The National Monetisation Pipeline will serve as medium-term roadmap for the asset monetisation initiative of the government, the Niti Ayog said in a statement. For this project, the Centre has finalised Rs 6 lakh crore worth infrastructure assets that will be monetised. The list includes a range of assets including national highways to power grid pipelines.
The Centre has identified highways, railways and power as top three sectors for asset monetisation. “Fifteen railway stadiums, 25 airports and the stake of central government in existing airports and 160 coal mining projects will be up for monetisation,” NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.
Huge liquidity right now, well-structured infra projects to get a good response. The Centre has mentioned Rs 1.5 lakh crore monetisation outlay annually for National Monetisation Pipeline Plan. The target is for current year is Rs 88,000 crore, Kant added. “We are fully committed to delivering success to the National Monetisation Pipeline. We feel that it is very important to bring in the private sector for better operation and maintenance, therefore we are committed to very strong delivery on the ground,” he further said.
Elaborating National Monetisation Pipeline plan, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that NEP talks about brownfield assets where investment is already being made, where there are assets either languishing or not fully monetized or under-utilised.
“The ownership of assets remains with the government. There will be a mandatory hand back. They (private sector partners) will have to give it back after a certain time,” Sitharaman reiterated. “By bringing in private participation, we are going to monetize it (assets) better and with whatever resource that you obtained by monetisation, you are able to put in for further investment into infrastructure building,” she added.
Finance minister said that the central government will also incentivise states to monetise their public assets. The incentives will be given by the Centre to states as 50-year interest-free loans. Up to Rs 5,000 crore of financial assistance is already budgeted as 50-year interest-free loan for the states for the current year, she mentioned.
“If the states divest a PSU and raise funds, the government will give them 100 per cent of that amount as financial assistance. If they monetise the asset, then government will give them 33 per cent of that amount. If states list a public company in the stock markets and raise funds, the government will be give them 50 per cent of that amount,” Sitharaman further added.
Sitharaman had announced National Monetisation Pipeline during Union Budget 2021.”By bringing in private participation, we are going to monetize it (assets) better and with whatever resource that you obtained by monetisation, you are able to put in for further investment into infrastructure building,” Sitharaman said on Monday.
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