Letters to the editor dated August 25, 2021

The Centre’s ambitious asset monetisation programme is a pragmatic option to fund the infrastructure sector. However, its success hinges on careful and continuous monitoring and addressing concerns raised by private players

While the transactions are likely to be structured through public private partnerships (PPPs), the participation of private players is likely to depend on factors such as operational flexibility, regulatory framework and dispute resolution mechanism. It remains to be seen whether selling off assets will really benefit the government or the crony capitalists.

Sholavandan, TN

It refers to ‘Unlocking value’ (August 25). What is really good to see is that assets for monetisation belong to diverse sectors such as railway, road, power, aviation, mining and warehousing. So private players will have ample choice to run these assets for the next four years. But considering the poor track record of the government in terms of divestment collections in the last decade or so, there isn’t too much room for optimism.

To make it really viable for private players, the government must clear all the bottlenecks, provide operational flexibility, and keep a close watch till the transaction is completed. It will be great if the government can constitute a committee which can oversee the progress every fortnight.

Noida

The Centre is trying every trick in the book and is rolling out ambitious plans and schemes to revive the animal spirits of economy. And now, comes the National Monetisation Pipeline. However, it is missing the killer instinct and is unable to fix accountability of the babus entrusted with the job, notorious as they are for delaying and dithering.

Also, there is lack of transparency and there are allegations of customisation of bids to suit a few cronies. Until the culture of quid pro quo is obliterated, the government’s flagship schemes will not deliver.

Predatory pricing and the penchant for super profits may put off potential investors. Spectrum allocation is a case in point.

Noida

To tackle the Covid situation in India, there’s need for many more vaccination centres and the vaccination capacity must be enhanced. The facilities at government hospitals to treat Covid patients also need to be scaled up.

At present, there are long queues at various vaccination centres and, in some case, people have to stand many hours for their turn to arrive.

Mumbai

Every section of the society gets freebies and subsidies in some form or the other. In fact, the rich corporates gain the most. For instance, the government has foregone a lot of revenue by reducing the corporate tax to 15 per cent.

The issue really is one of propriety. When freebies are offered at the time of election, it tantamounts to offering a bribe to vote for the party concerned. Here, the Election Commission must offer some clear guidelines.

Thrissur, Kerala

This refers to ‘Power markets on the cusp of transformation’ (August 25). Indeed the introduction of power exchanges is a significant development for balanced power distribution with competitive price discovery, flexibility and transparency.

Beyond long term power purchase agreements, which enhance bulk procurement, power exchanges cater to the supply chain through a short-market mechanism. Power exchanges help the power generators market their excess supply and earn additional revenue. The introduction of long duration delivery contracts in the power exchanges will strengthen the power sector value chain with efficient price recovery, facilitate power delivery with robust liquidity and will democratise the Indian power market

Sivakasi

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