Indian govt prepares portal to speed up asset monetisation drive

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Indian government has developed an asset monetisation dashboard for monitoring real-time progress of its ambitious Rs 2.5 trillion-plus pipeline, and providing visibility to investors, Business Standard reports.

The portal has been prepared as the government tries to provide a one-stop shop to investors keen on taking over assets of government departments and ministries. The exercise is similar to the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which seeks to invite private sector participation in the infrastructure sector.

Policy think tank NITI Aayog has finalised the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) of potential brownfield infrastructure assets. The monetisation pipeline has been created for a four-year period from financial year 2021-22 to 2024-25.

The NMP will serve as a roadmap for the asset monetization of various brownfield infrastructure assets across sectors including roads, railways, aviation, power, oil and gas, and warehousing, the parliament was informed.

In March, central ministries were given a target of Rs 2.5 trillion for monetising their assets over three years starting 2021-22 (FY22). The target was set for the Ministry of Railways, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, Power, Civil Aviation, among others. The Ministry of Coal has separately identified assets of about Rs 41,000 crore for monetisation taking the aggregate monetisation pipeline to over Rs 2.5 trillion.

To nudge states to monetise their assets, and divest state government-owned companies, the Centre also announced 50-year interest free loans up to Rs 5,000 crore linked to the receipts from the exercise. For the next 4-5 years, the Centre is also likely to set a target of Rs 3 trillion for states under the national asset monetisation pipeline, Business Standard had earlier reported.