Centre To Raise $81 Billion By Selling Airports, Roads, Railways Etc

New Delhi: The Centre plans to raise Rs 6 trillion ($81 billion) from selling state-owned infrastructure assets such as the sale of road and railway assets, airports, power transmission lines and gas pipelines, over the next four years to help bolster government finances, according to an exclusive NDTV report.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to make the roadmap public later today, the report added quoting sources who asked not to be identified.

The step is a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategic divestment policy, under which the state will retain a presence in only a few identified sectors with the rest privatised. The government has ‘budgeted Rs 1.75 trillion from such sales in the year through March 2022 to make up for the pandemic-linked drop in tax revenue.

Here’s what can be expected:

• Rs 1.6 trillion, from roads
• Rs 1.5 trillion from railways
• Rs 1 trillion from the power sector
• Rs 590 billion from gas pipelines
• Rs 400 billion from telecommunications
• Rs 1 trillion from public warehouses, civil aviation and port infrastructure, sports stadiums and mining assets