New Delhi:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who presented the Union Budget yesterday, clarified that the asset monetisation plan is not a substitute to disinvestment. 

Speaking to NDTV Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia on Sunday, Ms Sitharaman said, “Asset monetisation is not a substitute for disinvestment. Asset monetisation has been going on and will continue. In the 2nd edition, we said we will plough back capital of 10 lakh crore in new projects…If there is an asset that we want to monetise with a private party, that won’t be for sale. The ownership will be with the Centre, it won’t transfer. That is not disinvestment. The revenue that we will get, we will plough back.”

“The Centre has not dismissed disinvestment. There is talk of disinvestment as well,” Ms Sitharaman added.

According to Ms Sitharaman, Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) will help in building more assets.

“Every PSU is becoming professional on its own. But the market assessment processes, they do not have it. We are helping towards value addition to assets…Our budget also focuses on meeting urban challenges,” she said.

Ms Sitharaman on Saturday announced the launch of the second Asset Monetisation Plan for the period 2025-30. The plan aims to generate Rs 10 lakh crore by monetising government-owned assets and reinvesting the proceeds into new infrastructure projects. The government will also fine-tune regulatory and fiscal measures to ensure the successful implementation of the plan.

Apart from this, the government also proposed a financial outlay of Rs 1.5 lakh crore for interest-free loans to states. These loans, with a tenure of 50 years, are aimed at boosting capital expenditure and incentivising state-level infrastructure reforms.

IDBI Bank is on the government’s list for privatisation. Image for representation
| Photo Credit: G. Ramakrishna

The Budget for 2023-24 has not separately mentioned the amount that the government plans to raise from disinvestment or privatisation of state-owned companies.

Earlier, proceeds from disinvestment were shown separately as part of the miscellaneous receipts in the Capital Receipts Budget.

As per the 2023-24 Budget document, the revised estimate for miscellaneous capital receipts for the current fiscal has been pegged at ₹60,000 crore, lower than the ₹65,000 crore projected in Budget estimates for 2022-23.

For the next fiscal beginning April 1, the miscellaneous capital receipts have been pegged at ₹61,000 crore.

As per the DIPAM website, the government has so far mopped up over ₹31,100 crore by way of minority stake sale in CPSEs, as against the full-year Budget target of ₹65,000 crore.

For the next fiscal, companies like Shipping Corporation of India, NMDC Steel Ltd, BEML, HLL Lifecare, Container Corporation of India and Vizag Steel, besides IDBI Bank, are in the government’s list for privatisation.

This fiscal (2022-23) is the fourth year in a row that the government has missed the budgeted disinvestment target.

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