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Informist, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The government is likely to raise INR 4.6 trillion during 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) to FY30 from the National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0, which entails an indicative total monetisation value of INR 16.72 trillion during the same period, according to the National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0 launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday.

 

Under asset monetisation, the government unlocks value from the non-core assets of central public sector enterprises by leasing or "concessioning" them to the private sector. The framework also allows the public sector units to issue infrastructure investment trusts and bring in private participation in public sector projects, while the government retains ownership of the underlying assets. Following the success of the four-year asset monetisation plan launched in FY22--which raised over INR 4 trillion--Sitharaman announced a new five-year plan in FY26 to raise INR 10 trillion.

 

Monday, the finance minister said that the new five-year asset monetisation target--at an ambitious INR 16.7 trillion--is over 2.6 times higher than that under the first leg of the pipeline and the departments must aim to surpass the indicated targets through proactive efforts.

 

"It is to be noted that the proceeds are based on best possible estimates for monetary and investment inflow to the concerned Ministry/Department/PSU/State Government during each of the financial years between FY26 and FY30," the report said. Total monetisation value denotes the aggregate of the proceeds being received upfront, present value of the expected future proceeds, and the estimated private investment into the projects.

 

From a revenue perspective, the asset monetisation proceeds will help the government stay on course of fiscal consolidation. 

 

The government aims to raise INR 800 billion as miscellaneous capital receipts through the divestment of its stake in public sector undertakings and asset monetisation in FY27, up sharply from the revised estimate of INR 338.37 billion for the current fiscal year. The government has been classifying revenue from divestment and asset monetisation as miscellaneous capital receipts since the Interim Budget of FY25, after it discontinued the practice of giving a specific target for divestment receipts due to market volatility.

 

Proceeds from asset monetisation is key as the government has seen limited success in its disinvestment plan. Prior to FY24, the government met its divestment target in only two out of the previous 10 years. 

 

Under the pipeline, suitable assets are identified for monetisation, followed by suitable modes of monetisation for each asset class, which range from physical infrastructure to natural resources to financial assets. Since each asset class differs in its structure, maturity, underlying regulatory environment and revenue characteristics, the mode of monetisation varies accordingly. For example, InvIT may be chosen for highways projects whereas commercial auction is suitable for coal and mine assets, the report said. 

 

Strategic sale or divestment through initial public offering or offer for sale or other processes is also a mode of carrying out asset monetisation. As per the report, sectors like power, petroleum and natural gas, and aviation can carry out asset monetisation via IPO or follow-on-public offer mode. 

 

As per the estimates, INR 4.42 trilllion of monetisation value, or 26% of total proceeds, will come from highways, multi-modal logistics parks and ropeways. This will be followed by the power sector which can unlock monetisation worth INR 2.76 trillion over five years starting FY26. The other large sectors include ports, railways, coal, and mines.

 

The government segregated the monetisation pipeline over the five years and earmarked indicative monetisation value for each year--INR 2.49 trillion for FY26, INR 3.26 trillion for FY27, INR 3.46 trillion for FY28, INR 3.69 trillion for FY29, and INR 3.81 trillion for FY30. Based on this estimation, the Central government will receive INR 4.61 trillion from asset monetisation over five years, followed by private investment of INR 4.19 trillion. 

 

"Accordingly, about 58% of the monetisation proceeds shall be with Government of India and its entities, providing additional resources for asset creation and for improving infrastructure services," the report said. Assuming 70% of the INR 4.61 trillion that the government gets from asset monetisation is spent on public funded projects, the resultant amount of INR 3.2 trillion shall be a direct investment by the government in the development of infrastructure projects, the report said. "The remaining amount of INR 1.4 trillion which is invested in PPP projects can be leveraged for a higher impact," it added. 

 

The asset monetisation pipeline will also help the government increase its capital expenditure sharply, thereby driving economic growth. The report also said the investment by the private sector in course of the monetisation pipeline replaces the likely investment that would have been made by the public sector, "thus enabling the public sector to free up its resources".

An empowered Core Group of Secretaries on Asset Monetisation under Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan will continue to monitor the progress of the Asset Monetisation programme, the finance ministry said in a release. End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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