The Centre has drawn up a plan to meet the asset monetisation target of Rs 1.8 trillion for the current fiscal, with a robust pipeline of brownfield assets in roads, mining, power, petroleum and ports..
The public sector asset monetisation unlocked capital worth Rs 97,000 crore, 110% of the annual target. The achievement through accruals and private investment was Rs 1.32 trillion in FY23, which was 81% of the annual target of Rs 1.62 trillion. “Monetisation is in its third year and there is a lot of clarity among the agencies in terms of what to do. There is no question of any shortfall this year,” a senior official told FE.
Monetisation by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has reported decent numbers in the past two years even though targets were missed. Officials are confident that the highway maker would exceed the target in the current financial year. As against its achievement of Rs 22,400 crore (75% of target) in FY22 and Rs 17,300 crore (53%) in FY23, officials expect the achievement could be Rs 50,000-60,000 crore in FY24 as against the target of Rs 43,979 crore. NHAI plans to mobilise nearly of the amount through the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) while the balance would be through other instruments including Toll Operate Transfer (TOT)-based PPP concessions.
For the third year in a row, the monetisation of coal and other mining assets is expected to fetch Rs 50,000-60,000 crore in FY24 as against the target of Rs 8,726 crore. While the target for this segment was enhanced to Rs 37,500 crore from the initial goal of Rs 6,060 crore for FY23, the achievement came in at around Rs 60,000 crore. In FY22 also, the mining sector had yielded upfront revenues and capital expenditure to the tune of Rs 58,000 crore against the target of Rs 3,394 crore.
Among others, asset recycling in power transmission, power generation, natural gas exploration and port infrastructure is expected to do well in FY24, the official said.
However, railways and telecom, which have achieved very little in the last two years, are likely to fall short of their monetisation goals by a wide margin in FY24 as well. Railways’ asset recycling target for the current fiscal is Rs 44,907 crore. As per the original plan, it has to redevelop 120 stations in FY24. While that is a daunting task given the past two years of experience, it would try to initiate some station redevelopment in FY24, officials reckon.
The power generation and transmission sectors, which met their combined target of Rs 15,300 crore in FY23, are likely to do well in FY24 as well. With a robust pipeline of assets of Power Grid, NHPC, SJVN and NTPC, they could meet their target of about Rs 27,000 crore in FY24.
Similarly, prospects are good for the port sector to meet the asset monetisaton goal of Rs 4,377 crore in FY24 as many ports are expecting private investment in additional berths, mechanisation, development of oil jetty, container jetties, O&M of container terminal, etc.
The aggregate asset pipeline under the NMP over the four years, FY22-FY25, is indicatively valued at Rs 6 trillion or about 14% of the central share of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) of Rs 43 trillion (out of a total Rs 111 trillion in six years through FY25).
