Prepared by NITI Aayog in consultation with infrastructure ministries, NMP 2.0 operationalises the asset monetisation plan for 2025–30 announced in the Union Budget 2025–26.
The headline numbers are ambitious. The government plans to monetise more than 2,000 assets across 12 ministries, with an overall revenue potential of Rs 16.7 lakh crore. Of this, Rs 10.8 lakh crore is expected to be realised between 2025–26 and 2029–30, with the remainder flowing in subsequent years. Coming on the back of NMP 1.0, which mobilised Rs 5.3 lakh crore, or 90% of its Rs 6 lakh crore target, NMP 2.0 is both a scaling-up exercise and a test of whether asset monetisation can become a structural pillar of India’s infrastructure financing model.
A Niti Aayog report estimates a potential GDP impact of nearly Rs 40 lakh crore over five to ten years of NMP 2.0.
The logic of NMP 2.0: Monetisation and recycling, not privatisation
At the heart of the NMP framework is a distinction that policymakers have repeatedly stressed that asset monetisation is not outright privatisation. The government retains ownership of the underlying assets. What is transferred is the right to operate, maintain and earn revenue from brownfield infrastructure for a fixed concession period, typically under transparent bidding frameworks such as toll-operate-transfer models, infrastructure investment trusts, long-term leases or public-private partnerships.
The economic logic of NMP 2.0 is straightforward. India has invested heavily in creating physical infrastructure such as highways, transmission lines, ports, airports, pipelines and railway freight corridors. These are capital-intensive assets with long gestation periods. Once operational and revenue-generating, they can be leased to private operators who are often better placed to extract efficiency gains and bear operational risks. The upfront proceeds realised by the government can then be recycled into new greenfield projects, creating a virtuous investment cycle.
In effect, the state converts illiquid public assets into liquid financial resources, without relinquishing ultimate ownership. This recycling of capital is the core principle of NMP 2.0.
What is on offer under NMP 2.0?
The sectoral distribution of assets under NMP 2.0 reflects both scale and maturity. Roads remain the dominant segment. Highways, multi-modal logistics parks and ropeways together are expected to yield Rs 4.42 lakh crore during the five-year window. This shows the government’s confidence in traffic growth, tolling frameworks and investor appetite for operational road assets.
The power sector is next, with a monetisation target of Rs 2.76 lakh crore. Transmission lines, generation assets and distribution-linked infrastructure are likely components. These assets offer relatively stable cash flows, making them attractive to long-term institutional investors such as pension and sovereign wealth funds.
Ports and railways follow closely, with targets of Rs 2.63 lakh crore and Rs 2.62 lakh crore respectively. In railways, dedicated freight corridors, station redevelopment projects and cargo terminals could be monetised through structured concessions. Ports, which have already seen private participation in cargo handling and terminal management, provide another natural fit for long-term leases.
Coal and mining assets together account for over Rs 3 lakh crore in potential proceeds. This reflects the continued centrality of resource extraction to India’s industrial and power ecosystem, even as the energy transition gathers pace.
Other sectors such as urban infrastructure, civil aviation, petroleum and natural gas, warehousing, telecom and tourism contribute smaller but still significant amounts. The diversity of sectors indicates that NMP 2.0 is not confined to one ministry or one asset class but is a whole-of-government monetisation strategy.
Where the money goes
Of the Rs 10.8 lakh crore expected during 2025–30, the Niti Aayog report estimates that Rs 4.61 lakh crore would accrue directly to the Consolidated Fund of India. Around Rs 1.63 lakh crore would go to public sector undertakings or port authorities, and Rs 38,418 crore to state consolidated funds. Additionally, Rs 4.18 lakh crore would represent direct private investment committed under concession agreements.
The report argues that if 70% of the central government’s proceeds are redeployed into public-funded infrastructure projects, it would amount to about Rs 3.2 lakh crore in fresh government investment. More broadly, extrapolating monetisation flows suggests that Rs 6.2 lakh crore of central and PSU proceeds could catalyse total investment of Rs 12.2 lakh crore.
Applying a capital expenditure multiplier of 3.25, the report estimates a potential GDP impact of nearly Rs 40 lakh crore over five to ten years. While multipliers are based on assumptions, the underlying argument is that public capital expenditure has strong forward and backward linkages, stimulating demand for cement, steel, logistics, labour and services, and crowding in private investment.
Fiscal strategy and balance sheet management
NMP 2.0 must also be viewed in the context of India’s fiscal arithmetic. The Centre has significantly increased capital expenditure over the past several budgets, even as it pursues fiscal consolidation. Asset monetisation provides non-tax, non-debt capital receipts that help finance infrastructure without widening the fiscal deficit.
This has two implications. First, it supports macroeconomic stability by reducing the need for additional borrowing. Second, it allows the government to maintain a high capex trajectory even when revenue growth may be cyclical or constrained.
From a public finance perspective, monetisation is a balance sheet optimisation exercise. Mature assets with predictable cash flows are better suited to private sector balance sheets seeking stable returns. The government, with its unique capacity to plan long term and absorb early-stage risk, is better positioned to focus on new projects with higher uncertainty but larger social and developmental returns.
Crowding in private capital
Another central objective is to deepen India’s infrastructure financing ecosystem. Long-term institutional capital, both domestic and global, has shown increasing interest in operational infrastructure assets in India. Infrastructure investment trusts and real estate investment trusts have already become established vehicles.
By providing a pipeline of bankable, revenue-generating assets, NMP 2.0 seeks to crowd in private capital at scale. This reduces the burden on public banks and broadens the investor base. Over time, a successful monetisation programme can also improve pricing benchmarks and risk assessment frameworks for infrastructure projects.
The broader developmental context
Beyond fiscal arithmetic and GDP multipliers, the broader economic logic of NMP 2.0 lies in accelerating infrastructure creation. India’s development trajectory depends heavily on logistics efficiency, reliable power supply, modern transport networks and urban infrastructure. NMP 1.0’s near-achievement of its target provides some confidence, but NMP 2.0 is larger in scale and more complex in scope. The government’s ability to coordinate across ministries and ensure timely transactions will be crucial.
If monetisation allows the government to build more highways, rail corridors, renewable energy parks and logistics hubs at a faster pace, the long-term productivity gains could outweigh the short-term accounting debates.
In that sense, NMP 2.0 is an attempt to establish a capital recycling model within the Indian state. By unlocking value from existing infrastructure, the government seeks to fund the next wave of growth.
Whether the projected Rs 40 lakh crore GDP boost materialises will depend on execution, market conditions and the quality of new investments. NMP 1.0’s near-achievement of its target provides some confidence, but NMP 2.0 is larger in scale and more complex in scope. The government’s ability to coordinate across ministries and ensure timely transactions will be crucial.
But as a policy framework, NMP 2.0 represents a deliberate shift towards treating public assets as strategic components of a national balance sheet – the assets that can be leveraged, recycled and redeployed in pursuit of sustained economic expansion.