The Indian government has surpassed the target set for asset monetisation for the financial year 2021- 22, raising over £9.7 billion with roads, power, coal, mining and minerals accounting for a large chunk of the transactions.
Officials said they hope to cross £10 billion for 2021-22 when the final numbers are announced. The government is also confident of achieving the £16.7 billion target set for the current fiscal year, which began in April, as substantial progress has been achieved by various ministries and departments. They said that proposals worth £16.3 billion of accruals or investments of various central ministries are in the pipeline and at various stages of processing.
The target for 2021-22 was set at £8.8 billion from asset monetisation. Officials said the cumulative potential over the years on account of monetisation transactions completed during FY22 is estimated at £90 billion. The surpassing of the target comes against the backdrop of the government’s inability to meet the privatisation target last year as the IPO of LIC was deferred due to the choppy market conditions, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ministry of coal topped the chart raising £4 billion from various transactions including auction of 22 blocks, followed by the ministry of road transport and highways with a monetisation value of projects estimated £2.3 billion, the minerals sector notched up £1.87 billion and the power ministry raised £950 million.
The Centre is now planning to partner with states to monetise significant infrastructure assets to boost investment in infrastructure. The government had unveiled the £60 billion asset monetisation plan in August last year over the next four years. Assets which have been identified include roads, power transmission & generation, gas pipelines, warehousing, railways, telecom, 25 airports, 31 projects in 9 major ports, coal and mineral mining, sports stadia and redevelopment of colonies.
