Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week announced the national monetisation pipeline (NMP). The government has been eyeing asset monetisation for a long time, but it always had a disaggregated approach with each ministry setting its targets.

       However, this time the government aims to monetise assets worth Rs 6 trillion across 13 categories within the next four years. Although over half the assets belong to roads and railways, sectors such as telecom, ports, mining, and power transmission are also part of the NMP (chart 1). For the first year, the government hopes to monetise Rs ...