Asset Monetisation: The Missing Model

Centre Hopes To Monetise Public Sector Assets Such As Land, Roads And Railways To Finance An Infrastructure Push. But Where Is The Model To Achieve The ₹2.5-lakh-crore Target?

- Ashutosh Kumar

AT a time when government finances have been hit due to Covid-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a new mechanism of revenue mobilisation in Budget 2021— asset monetisation. It aims to unlock value from public assets and tap the private sector to fund infrastructure projects.

“Monetising operating public infrastructure assets is an important financing option for new infrastructure construction,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. A National Monetisation Pipeline of potential brownfield infrastructure assets was announced, along with a dashboard to track the progress of identified projects. Operations and maintenance of dedicated freight corridor projects of Indian Railways, highway projects of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), airports in Tier-II and III cities, oil and gas pipelines of Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), under-utilised land and other assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), were zeroed in on for monetisation.

Within weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced investment opportunities worth ₹ 2.5 lakh crore in the asset monetisation pipeline through sale of 100 assets of CPSEs. “Monetise and modernise,” Modi said during an interaction with the private sector on February 24. “The government does not have any business to be in business.”

The Problem