Govt completed transactions worth ₹96,000 crore in 2021-22 under National Monetisation Pipeline.

The government has completed transactions worth ₹96,000 crore under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) in 2021-22, surpassing the year’s target of ₹88,000 crore, according to a top government official.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had last year in August announced NMP, under which the government expects to garner about ₹6 lakh crore by leasing public assets in sectors such as airports, railways, roads and shipping, to the private sector.

In 2021-22, while roads and highways monetised assets worth ₹23,000 crore, power sector closed the fiscal with overall monetisation of ₹9,500 crore, Mining of coal generated monetisation value of ₹40,000 crore and mining of minerals garnered ₹18,700 crore. For Railways, this amount stood at about ₹800-900 crore

Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took a review meeting on the progress of the NMP, which was attended by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, finance secretary and secretaries of different ministries such as roads, railways, petroleum and power.

“Sectors/ministries where targeted monetisation potential could not be met for FY 2022, such as Railways, were asked to expeditiously identify ‘quick win’ assets and roll out transactions so as to be on track during subsequent years,” the official said.

Key international and domestic investors in 2021-22, include Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Capital Group, Utilico Emerging Markets Trust, HDFC Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund and Matthews Asia, among others, the official, who did not want to be named, said.

The official added that during the meeting aggregate target of ₹1.62 lakh crore has been firmed up for 2022-23.

“We are confident of surpassing the current year’s target as well with proposals worth Rs 1.63 lakh crore of accruals and investments in pipeline and at various stages of processing,” the official added.

“FM has called for full and personal engagement by all Ministries to ensure achievement of future year targets under NMP,” the official said, adding that Ministry-wise targets for 2021-22, which have not been achieved, will be carried forward to 2022-23.

THE HINDU