Centre committed to disinvestment, asset monetisation: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government is committed to privatisation and will move forward with disinvestment and asset monetisation plans, especially where Cabinet approvals are in place.

Asked about the reason why disinvestment and asset monetisation were omitted from the Union Budget, Sitharaman, in an exclusive interview with Network18 Group Editor Rahul Joshi, said, “Disinvestment and asset monetisation is still a part of the budget. It may not be a part of my speech… We have to see when is the best time to monetise assets”.

In a deviation from earlier practice, the Budget speech in Lok Sabha for 2023-24 did not separately mention how much the government plans to raise from disinvestment or privatisation of state-owned companies.

While speaking in Parliament, Sitharaman also did not mention the central government’s plan to monetise fully completed and operational infrastructure to raise funds for financing future projects, National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), in the Budget.

The privatisation of banks, she said would require legislative changes.

According to Budget documents released by the Ministry of Finance, The government aims to raise Rs 51,000 crore from disinvestment in FY24. In FY23, it had budgeted to raise Rs 65,000 crore through divestments, while the revised estimate for disinvestments in FY23 stood at Rs 50,000 crore.

The move is on expected lines on the back of unfavourable market conditions and a sluggish privatisation drive in 2022.

National Monetisation Pipeline’s target for FY23 is set at Rs 1.6 lakh crore during the current fiscal.

PM Modi has referred to NMP as key to “monetise and modernize”. It was aimed at monetising operational assets by luring private sector investment in these projects once the execution risk of projects is reduced. The funds thus raised would be pumped back into infrastructure and other key projects.

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