Land special purpose vehicle on fast track as board structure finalised

The proposed board of National Land Monetisation Company (NLMC) or the land special purpose vehicle (SPV) would have 13 members and would be headed by the chief executive officer who will be an additional secretary or joint secretary-level officer, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

The proposed board structure of NLMC — a specialised entity to monetise non-core assets of public sector undertakings announced in last year’s Budget — envisages a mix of senior government officials and eminent professionals in the field of real estate, banking, investment banking, construction, and legal from the private sector, Sitharaman informed Parliament.

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“The board is expected to have necessary experience and expertise to steer the functioning of the NLMC in a professional manner, and an eminent professional would be appointed as the chairman of the board,” Sitharaman said.

The board of NLMC would have 13 directors, of which seven would be government officials and six would be from the private sector. Six government representative on the board of NLMC would be additional or joint secretaries from Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Department of Heavy Industries (DHI).

The specialised entity will own, hold, manage, and monetise land and building assets of public sector undertakings (PSUs) under closure and surplus land and assets of the government-owned companies shortlisted for privatisation.

To attract and retain experienced professionals from the private sector, the board of NLMC will have flexibility to lay down the criteria for selection of professionals.

PSUs have surplus, unused, and underused land and buildings which can be better utilised and value accretive. So far, nine PSUs have identified about 3,479 acres of surplus land and building assets for monetisation, Sitharaman said. On Monday, Business Standard reported that the government is looking to monetise about 5,400 acres land of public sector companies through the land SPV.

The NLMC is being set up as a wholly owned Union government company with an initial authorised share capital of Rs 5,000 crore and paid-up share capital of Rs 150 crore.