NITI Aayog moots steps to expedite PSU disinvestment, asset monetisation process

Niti Aayog

Government think-tank NITI Aayog is in favour of expediting the proposed disinvestment programme of the public sector units (PSUs) by the Union government, sources told Moneycontrol. The think tank also wants to shorten the asset monetisation process substantially.

The policy think tank wants to send its recommendation on disinvestment of PSUs directly to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for its approval.

Currently, if NITI Aayog suggests a divestment proposal, its recommendation will go to the ministry concerned or Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) first. The ministry or DIPAM examine it and then the proposal goes to Cabinet. But now the think tank proposes that its recommendations on divestment should go directly to the CCEA.

According to the sources, the proposed changes would help reduce the asset monetisation timeframe by 90 percent.

If the government follows the current procedures, the approval process will take at least 12 months. However, the policy body seeks to get Cabinet approval for its recommendations within 30 days.

Moreover, it has also proposed concrete steps to shorten the entire process of disinvestment including the appointment of advisors and asset valuers. Earlier, there was a proposal to appoint legal advisors and asset valuers within 10 days of getting a green light from the CCEA. However, these measures are yet to be finalised.

Further, the sources said the think tank proposes to appoint an independent professional agency to speed up the asset monetisation programme.

Last month, Prime minister Narendra Modi had announced investment opportunities worth Rs 2.5 trillion in the national asset monetisation pipeline mentioned in the Union Budget through the sale of around 100 assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs).

The government aims to keep “bare minimum" CPSEs in the four strategic sectors and privatise the rest or close down the unviable ones. The four buckets of strategic sectors include atomic energy, space and defence; transport and telecommunications; power, petroleum, coal and other minerals; banking, insurance and financial services.

The government is expected to launch the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) in the next few weeks. The policy body wants a nodal officer at each ministry, who will be responsible to update a proposed asset monetisation dashboard, which is scheduled to be launched next month.

The sources cited above said the NITI Aayog's suggestions have been more or less accepted during the recent inter-ministerial meeting.

While the government has already identified assets worth 2.5 lakh crore for monetisation during the next financial year, this figure may increase as more areas are being identified for the purpose.