Highlights:
- According to FM, the budget highlighted infrastructure as the primary focus for public investment.
- Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, said that infrastructure assets worth ₹6 lakh crore in the rail, road, and electricity sectors would be monetized over the next four years.
On Monday, August 23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), which details the government’s infrastructure assets that would be auctioned off over the next four years.
The proposed sales are in accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategic divestment strategy, under which the government will retain a presence in only a few designated industries while privatising the rest.
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Here are some of the key points from Sitharaman’s press conference:
1. On the asset monetisation plan, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Asset monetisation would unleash resources, which will lead to value unlocking.”
2. According to the finance minister, the National Monetisation Plan will not monetize land; only brownfield assets would be monetized.
3. According to the Finance Minister, India must understand that the time has come to make the most of its assets.
4. According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the budget identified infrastructure as the primary focus for public expenditure.
5. Ownership of the assets would remain with the government, but there will be an obligatory handover of the asset after a certain period of time. The government is not selling its assets for good, said Nirmala Sitharaman.
6. Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, has launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP).
7. Infrastructure assets worth 6 lakh crore across rail, power sectors and roads would be monetised over a four-year period, according to Kant.
8. According to Kant, the government plans to monetize gas pipelines, highways, railway assets, and warehousing assets, among other things.
9. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, said the monetisation of state-run assets initiative includes assets worth 6 lakh crore rupees.
10. “The monetisation of state-owned assets programme covers assets worth 6 trillion rupees,” Kant adds.
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11. “The #NMP is meant not only to offer a much-needed positive stimulus for the economy, but also to establish the essential roadmaps for asset monetisation of the Central Government’s brownfield infrastructure assets,” tweeted Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of NITI Aayog.
12. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to speak at a news conference shortly.
13. Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), stated earlier this month that the government is finalising 6 lakh crore worth of infrastructure assets, including national highways and electrical grid pipes, that will be monetised.
14. The Union Budget 2021-22 prioritised asset monetisation as a means of generating additional and alternative infrastructure funds.
15. During her Budget speech, Sitharaman stated that monetising operating public infrastructure assets was a key financing option for future infrastructure projects.
16. The government views asset monetisation as a strategy for infrastructure expansion and maintenance, not only a financial mechanism.
17. The NMP book will be released in the presence of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, and Secretaries of important ministries representing assets in the monetisation pipeline.
