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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2025, has announced the launch of the second Asset Monetization Plan for the period 2025-30.
This plan aims to generate Rs 10 lakh crore by monetizing 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. Launching the plan FM said "Building on the success of the first Asset Monetization Plan announced in 2021, the second Plan for 2025-30 will be launched to plough back capital of ` 10 lakh crore in new projects". Apart from the Asset Monetization Plan, the government has 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 incentivizing state-level infrastructure reforms. The new asset monetization initiative is expected to provide significant capital for infrastructure development and help India achieve its long-term economic growth goals. The government hopes that by streamlining the process and providing more clarity to investors, the second phase of asset monetization will surpass the success of the first. The initiative builds upon the first Asset Monetization Plan, which was introduced in the Union Budget 2021-22. Under that plan, the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) was formulated to list potential core assets of Central Government Ministries and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) for monetization between 2021-22 and 2024-25. NITI Aayog, in collaboration with infrastructure ministries, had identified assets with a monetization potential of Rs 6 lakh crore during this period. As part of the first plan, the government set a target of Rs 2.5 lakh crore for the first two years (2021-22 and 2022-23) and achieved around Rs 2.3 lakh crore. In the financial year 2023-24, the target was set at Rs 1.8 lakh crore - the highest among all four years - and the achievement stood at approximately Rs 1.56 lakh crore. Among the ministries, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Coal emerged as top performers in 2023-24, contributing a total of Rs 97,000 crore to the overall monetization achievement. To further accelerate the process, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has already identified 33 assets for monetization in 2024-25. The government hopes that by streamlining the process and providing more clarity to investors, the second phase of asset monetization will surpass the success of the first. (ANI)
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