India sets ball rolling for monetising govt assets

The exercise for preparing the National Monetisation Pipeline would be similar to the one carried out for the Rs 111-trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) has asked ministries, government departments, and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to send a list of assets that can be monetised under the proposed National Monetisation Pipeline.

The list will be used for creation of an asset monetisation dashboard, which will keep a track of such assets.

The government, meanwhile, has asked CRISIL to prepare a road map for monetising assets of PSUs and government departments.

The exercise for preparing the National Monetisation Pipeline would be similar to the one carried out for the Rs 111-trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), according to a senior government official.

CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory, an arm of CRISIL, has been tasked with bringing out the pipeline for monetisation of assets.

The arm of the rating agency had also prepared a blueprint for NIP that identified infrastructure projects for investments until 2024-25.

The core assets of PSUs will be identified, and the pipeline will lay the framework for monetising them, the government official said.

The pipeline is also expected to have assets of ministries and government departments that can be monetised.

CRISIL declined to comment on Business Standard’s queries.

“Monetising operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.

"A National Monetisation Pipeline of potential brownfield infrastructure assets will be launched.

"An Asset Monetisation dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her Budget speech.

Once government departments, ministries, and PSUs send the list to Dipam, the disinvestment department will shortlist assets to feature on the dashboard, the official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month said the government had a target to monetise about 100 assets in oil and gas, ports, airports, power sector, among others, which will draw Rs 2.5 trillion of investment.

Tracking progress

Finance Minister Sitharaman is scheduled to chair a webinar on Tuesday where a presentation on core and non-core assets of PSUs and government departments will be made by Dipam and the NITI Aayog.

A framework on monetising assets is also expected to be discussed, along with several models that can be used to monetise such assets.

In the Union Budget, the government announced one InvIT each would be sponsored by the National Highways Authority of India and Power Grid Corporation of India.

The government will also monetise Dedicated Freight Corridor assets, and the next lot of airports for operations and maintenance.

Operational toll roads of NHAI and transmission assets of PGCIL, oil and gas pipelines of GAIL India, Indian Oil Corporation, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation will also be monetised along with sports stadiums.

The sports ministry has been tasked to identify and monetise sports stadiums.