CII DG backs National Monetisation Pipeline to build world-class infrastructure in India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) for monetising infrastructure assets across sectors from rail to the road to power. Following the launch, Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chandrajit Banerjee lauded the initiative and called it a commitment of the Centre towards building a robust and world-class infrastructure across the nation. The implementation of the monetisation plan was suggested in the previous year’s budget.

The CII Director General while commenting on the initiative said that it will help both government and investors. "India needs large investments in infrastructure for accelerating inclusive growth. The announcement of the NMP shows the commitment of the Government of India towards building a robust and world-class infrastructure across the country," Banerjee said. "The assets monetisation is value creation for both government and investors. It will help the government generate resources which could be further plough back into infrastructure," he added.

Centre confident over National Monetisation Pipeline 

With the National Monetisation Pipeline, the Centre aims to provide a medium-term roadmap for public asset owners while increasing visibility on potential assets to the private sector. The NMP includes the Centre's four-year plan to monetise its brownfield infrastructure assets. The launch came after the Union Budget 2021-22 identified the monetisation of operating public infrastructure assets as a key means for sustainable infrastructure financing. A report on NMP has already been prepared by the NITI Aayog in consultation with infra line ministries.

The NMP report has been organised into two volumes with the first volume structured as a guidebook and the second being the actual roadmap for monetisation. Volume I will detail the conceptual approaches and potential models of the programme. Meanwhile, Volume II includes the pipeline of core infrastructure assets under the Central government. The report has been made after taking inputs from respective line ministries and departments. Furthermore, only assets of the Central line ministries and Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in infrastructure sectors have been included in the plan and monetisation through disinvestment as well as monetisation of non-core assets have been excluded. During the launch of NMP, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured that the plan will bring in further investment into infrastructure building. She had urged all related Central ministries to gear up actively for the project.

(IMAGE: ANI/PTI)