(BS)
Convincing the petroleum ministry by stating the plan as an expensive way to raise capital, state gas utility GAIL, Hindustan Petroleum, and Indian Oil Corporation may not go ahead with pipeline monetisation, a media report said on Wednesday.
According to the Economic Times report, the government expected the companies to transfer some of their pipelines to separate infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) and sell minority stakes in those to raise Rs 17,000 crore. The oil companies have told the government that their high credit ratings, among the best in the country, will allow them to raise capital easily and at a much lower cost than any return they would have to offer InvIT investors, the report added.
The asset monetisation programme, announced in Budget 2021, is a pipeline of assets the government is looking to monetise to collect about Rs 6 trillion to partly fund its ambitious infrastructure projects over four years ending 2024-25.
