Finance Minister to unveil monetisation pipeline today

New Delhi: As part of the government's plan for monetising assets, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will launch the National Monetisation Pipeline, or NMP, on Monday. The plan aims to monetise brownfield infrastructure assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore across sectors such as roads, railways, aviation, power, oil & gas and warehousing, with a range of assets to be put on the block for private sector participation.

Announcing the plan, the government think-tank Niti Aayog on Sunday said that the NMP comprises a four-year pipeline of the central government's existing infrastructure assets. "Besides providing visibility to investors, it will also serve as a medium-term road map for the asset monetisation initiative of the government," the Aayog said.

The Union Budget 2021-22 laid much emphasis on asset monetisation as a means to raise innovative and alternative financing for infrastructure. In her Budget speech, Sitha-raman had said that monetising operating public infrastructure assets was a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.

Even the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey had indicated earlier this month that the government is finalising Rs 6-lakh crore infrastructure assets to be monetised.

The government views asset monetisation as a strategy for the augmentation and maintenance of infrastructure and not just a funding mechanism.