CPSE assets sale to bring about paradigm shift in infra: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said monetisation of CPSE assets is based on the principle of value creation for the government and investors and would bring about a paradigm shift in infrastructure augmentation and maintenance.

Chairing the National Workshop with the states/UTs on Asset Monetisation organised by Niti Aayog, the minister sought the collaboration of states for the holistic development of infrastructure.

She said India can become a USD 5 trillion economy, while striking the right balance between fiscal imperatives and socio-economic welfare, through active collaboration between the public and private sector.

"Asset Monetisation needs to be viewed not just as a funding mechanism, but as an overall strategy for bringing about a paradigm shift in infrastructure augmentation and maintenance," she added.

Sitharaman also underlined the government's resolve for value creation and improvement in the productivity of brownfield infrastructure assets via innovative instruments.

Observing that asset monetisation is based on the principle of Value Creation for Government and investors, she said, "Our vision for Infrastructure is ultimately of, for and by our States. Without whose collaboration, holistic development of infrastructure is neither feasible nor impactful".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month said that 100 under-utilised or unutilised assets with public sector units (PSUs), such as those in the oil and gas and power sectors, will be monetised, creating Rs 2.5 lakh crore of investment opportunities.

Sitharaman in her 2021-22 Budget speech had said monetising operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.

"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," she had said.