CS Oct-2021 | Page 6

bring these trusts under the purview of Insolvency and Bankruptcy code to protect them and also to provide them tax benefits under section 54EC of the Income Tax Act , 1961 . All this is truly loss to the treasury but the loss is inevitable to strengthen Monopoly Capital in the infrastructure sector . These two trusts could mobilize as high as 9.7 billion dollars by July 2021 . The only remaining process is to take assets for lease .
National Infrastructure Pipeline for Infrastructure
To achieve the target of US $ 5 trillion worth economy by 2025 , it is necessary to accelerate the development of infrastructure . Its goal , declared openly , is to increase the wealth of billionaires . However , this process is closely related to the strengthening of Monopoly Capital , establishing and reinforcing its domination over our infrastructure . To realize this , brown field infrastructure is readied for the Monopoly Capital to ‘ ease ’ their lease . For this , the Greenfield infrastructure should be built . It is ‘ risky ’ for the private players to make investments in Greenfield infrastructure . So , the government took up this responsibility of building these projects from scratch , develop them into a brownfield infrastructure and lease them to monopoly capital and raise the wealth of the rich .
With this goal , National Infrastructure Pipeline is announced in December 2019 to build Rs . 111 lakh crore worth of infrastructure over a period of six years . The share of public investment on infrastructure in Gross Domestic Product during 2008- 2012 is to the tune of 7 %. Subsequently , it has declined to 5.8 % during 2013- 2017 . In order to raise its share , the government allocated Rs . 10.2 lakh crore in 2018 and Rs . 10 lakh crores in 2019 to this sector . In fact , this sector acquired significance in our country only from the view point of the Global Infrastructure needs .
The Global Infrastructure Outlook , 2017 , states that this sector requires 94 lakh crore dollars during 2016-2040 . As high as 50 % of this
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amount should come from Asia and China , India and Japan should play a key role in it .
The question is how to mobilise the Rs . 111 lakh crores for National Infrastructure Pipeline ? It is decided that 83 to 85 % of the financial resources should be mobilized from traditional sources of finance-budget and non-budget financial resources and loans . The remaining 15-17 % financial resources should be mobilised through alternative ‘ innovative methods ’ like Asset-Monetization . For the purpose of infrastructure finance , Development Finance Institution , DFI is established and National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill [ 2021 ] is passed in March 2021 . Its equity capital is Rs . 20000 crores and is expected to create credit to the tune of Rs . 5 lakh crores over a period of three years . The list of Central Government infrastructure assets prepared by Niti Aayog to accelerate the process of ‘ Asset-Monetization ’ are as follows : ( Table )
The assets are categorised as Core and non-core for the purpose of ‘ Asset-Monetization ’. The core assets are centred on commercial goals . This consists of Roads , Railways , Airport , Ports , Networks related to electricity generation and distribution , Pipelines , Warehouses , etc . The non-core consists of Land Parcels and buildings .
The ‘ Asset-Monetization ’ programme is expected to raise 70 % of targeted revenue from 1 ) Roads 27 % 2 ) Railways 25 % 3 ) Electricity 15 %. The assets identified for lease immediately are 1 . 26,700 km of roads belonging to
22 stretches 2 . 400 railway stations 3 . 90 passenger trains 4 . 28,600 km transmission lines
In addition , Bharat Fibre Network , Towers of BSNL , MTNL , Warehouses , Infrastructure assets related to Ports , Civil Aviation , Sports Stadium , Mineral Resources are identified .
Land Details
The widely circulated discussion between Montek Singh Ahulwalia , Deputy Chairman of erstwhile planning commission and Ajay Shah , economist in National Institute for Public Finance and Policy about the ‘ Asset-Monetization ’ has to be examined . Ajay Shah argues that assets will be utilised efficiently only when they are sold . But Montek Singh Ahluwalia argues that as valuable land is involved in infrastructure . Therefore , it is advisable to lease the assets . However , in the entire discussion people doesn ’ t exist and the government appears as a commercial entity functioning with the sole aim of benefiting Monopoly Capital . Further , Ajay Shah states that the warehouses of Food Corporation of India in Mumbai own 120 acres of valuable land which is lying idle . Therefore , it has to be sold ; this is the best way to reduce public debt , he added .
Class Struggle