 "Centre monetised Rs 3.85 trn worth of assets as part of NMP since FY22")
The central government has monetised assets worth Rs 3.85 trillion as part of the national monetisation pipeline (NMP) since 2021-22, with Rs 1.56 trillion being raised from private participation in infrastructure in 2023-24 itself, central think tank Niti Aayog announced on Wednesday.
“The total target for the first two years i.e. 2021-22 and 2022-23 under NMP was around Rs 2.5 trillion, against which around Rs 2.30 trillion was achieved. During the financial year 2023-24, against the target of Rs 1.8 trillion, which is the highest among all the four years, the achievement has been around Rs 1.56 trillion. Further, this achievement in 2023-24 is around 159 per cent of the achievement in 2021-22,” Niti Aayog said in its statement.
The national monetisation pipeline had been created in September 2021, to bring in private sector efficiency and raise money for the central government through operational and revenue-generating infrastructure assets.
The central government’s performance against its stated target of Rs 4.33 trillion -- a shortfall of 11 per cent -- has come on the back of non-performance by a key infrastructure department – Railways. The national transporter was expected to be responsible for a fourth of the monetisation proceeds but has hardly been able to monetise any of the core assets it was supposed to – stations, track overhead equipment, and passenger train operations.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has in the past said on the question of monetisation that railways is a public good and decisions would only be taken keeping the larger good of the masses in mind.
The railways was expected to come up with its own real estate investment trust (REIT) and infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), but those plans have not borne fruit three years into the pipeline.
Also Read
“With regard to the achievement of individual ministries in 2023-24, the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways with Rs 40,314 crore, Coal with Rs 56,794 crore, Power with Rs 14,690 crore, Mines with Rs 4,090 crore, Petroleum and Natural Gas with Rs 9,587 crore, Urban with Rs 6,480 crore, and Shipping with Rs 7,627 crore have achieved more than 70 per cent of the target set for them,” the Aayog said on Wednesday.
This paper reported earlier this month that the Centre plans to raise Rs 10,000 crore from monetising ports in the current financial year, which has been one of the better performing asset classes when it comes to PPP.
In FY24, the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Coal were the top two achievers with a total achievement of Rs 97,000 crore.
To enable the investors to plan their investments efficiently and thereby accelerate the monetisation process, NHAI has already identified and published an indicative list of 33 assets to be monetised during 2024-25, the Aayog said.
The ministry now also plans to raise Rs 44,000 crore through private highway bidding under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model this fiscal.
“The progress made by the Ministry of Coal under NMP would result in increased investment in coal mining, thereby improving the energy security of the nation through increased coal production and its supply to the thermal power plants,” according to Niti Aayog.