Central Govt targets Rs 10,000 crore from monetisation of ports in FY25

NEW DELHI : With the aim of increasing the share of public-private partnership (PPP) in ports, the Centre will look to monetise assets worth Rs 10,000 crore in 2024-25 (FY25), according to multiple sources familiar with the developments.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has submitted a monetisation pipeline of Rs 10,000 crore, consisting of five-seven projects, to NITI Aayog — the central think tank and nodal government body for asset monetisation — according to a senior government official.

Shipping Secretary Shri TK Ramachandran recently said that the Centre is looking to increase the share of PPP at government-owned ports to 80 percent by the end of the decade, said the report.

Although newly identified projects make up only a small portion of the shipping ministry’s FY25 pipeline, with a focus on pending mega projects, it said.

Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman had last October urged the shipping ministry to speed up the monetisation process of identified projects.

“Out of 12 major ports, nine have at least 31 projects that have been identified and approved for asset monetisation. I would think the ministry should go speedily on these so that those projects can get monetised. That is expected to give around Rs 14,483 crore,” Sitharaman said at the Global Maritime India Summit 2023 in Mumbai on October.