Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launches National Monetisation Pipeline

By: WE Staff | Monday, 23 August 2021

Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, will unveil the National Monetisation Pipeline today in New Delhi.

The National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) is a four-year pipeline of brownfield infrastructure assets owned by the Central Government. According to an official release, the NMP would not only provide insight to investors, but it would also act as a medium-term plan for the government's Asset Monetisation initiative.

However, the Union Budget 2021-22, which contained a number of major announcements, placed a strong emphasis on Asset Monetisation as a means of bringing out creative and alternative infrastructure finance.

In addition, the National Monetisation Pipeline book will be released in the presence of Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, CEO of the NITI Aayog, and secretaries of key ministries whose assets make up the monetisation pipeline.

In February, the Finance Minister emphasised in the Union Budget for 2021-22 that monetising operating public infrastructure assets is a critical financing option for new infrastructure investment.

In a statement, Niti Aayog states, "The NMP comprises a four-year pipeline of the central government's brownfield infrastructure assets. Besides providing visibility to investors, NMP will also serve as a medium-term roadmap for the asset monetisation initiative of the government."

She also stated that an asset monetisation dashboard would be built to track developments and provide investors with visibility.

Sitharaman says, "A National Monetisation Pipeline of potential brownfield infrastructure assets will be launched. An asset monetisation dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors."