The government has completed transactions worth £96,000m under the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) in 2021-22, beating the annual target of £88,000m, according to a senior government official.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced NMP in August last year, under which the government expects to raise 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 monetized assets worth 23,000 crore, the energy sector ended the financial year with a total monetization of 9,500 crore, coal mining generated monetization value of 40,000 crore and mineral mining generated 18,700 crore. For Railways, this amount was around ₹800-900 crore
On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended a briefing on the progress of the NMP, which was attended by Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, finance ministers and secretaries from various ministries such as roads, railways, petroleum and energy.
“Sectors/ministries where the targeted monetization potential for FY2022 could not be achieved, e.g. Businesses like railroads have been asked to quickly identify “quick-win” assets and initiate transactions to stay on track in subsequent years,” the official said.
Major international and domestic investors in 2021-22 include the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Capital Group, Utilico Emerging Markets Trust, HDFC Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund and others, among others Matthews Asia did not want to be named, said.
The official added that an overall target of 1.62 lakhcrore for 2022-23 was set during the meeting.
“We are confident of exceeding the current year’s target with proposals worth Rs. 1.63 billion in reserves and investments in the pipeline and at various stages of processing,” the official added.
“FM has requested a full and personal commitment from all departments to ensure that the targets for the next few years under the NMP are met,” the official said, adding that the departmental targets for 2021-22 are not met were to be carried over to 2022 -23.
