Government finalising plan to monetise Rs 6 lakh crore infra assets: DIPAM Secy

The government is finalising Rs 6 lakh crore infrastructure assets, including national highways and power grid pipelines, which would be monetised, a top official said on Wednesday. “A national monetisation plan of about Rs 6 trillion is in the offing which will have a range of assets from pipelines to power grid pipelines to national highways, ToT and so on,” Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.

Speaking at the CII annual session, Pandey said the InvIT for asset monetisation of power grid was done successfully and which has led to regulatory systems, like Sebi approval, being put in place.

“There are certain issues still there, in terms of further improving the InvIT system… The second InvIT might be coming for the pipelines, in the GAIL side,” he said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2021-22 Budget speech, had said monetising operating public infrastructure assets was 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,” she had said.

The government is viewing asset monetisation should be seen as a strategy for the augmentation and maintenance of infrastructure, and not just a funding mechanism.