Rs 6-trillion monetisation plan: Modi govt's ambition in a minefield

Given the record of past blunders, under-achievements, vulnerabilities and the manifest influence of stigmatised capital, what India might get is yet another school for scandal, cautions T N Ninan

The difference between privatisation and “monetisation” is that the first takes the government out of a business; the second keeps the government in there as an active player. For that reason, privatisation is easier than monetisation. Yet a government with a sorry record on privatisation (Air India, Bharat Petroleum, etc) and of missing disinvestment targets by a mile, hopes to garner Rs 6 trillion through monetisation in four years – just after a bid to monetise railway assets has failed to attract much interest. But what good is an announcement if it is not ambitious in scale? Even if the