National Land Monetization Corporation

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 14, Mar 2022

Why in News?

The National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) is being set up with the purpose of monetising surplus government-owned land. It is being set-up as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and will be set up as a wholly-owned Government of India company.

It will have an initial authorised share capital of INR 5,000 crore and paid-up share capital of INR 150 crore.

• The new company will be set up under the administrative jurisdictionof the finance ministry. The Board of Directors of NLMC will comprise senior Central Government officers and eminent experts to enable professional operations and management of the company.
• The chairman, Non-government directors of the NLMC will be appointed through a merit-based selection process.
• It will be a lean organization with minimal full-time staff, hired directly from the market on a contract basis.

What would be the role of the NLMC?

The National Land Monetisation Corporation will undertake monetisation of surplus land and building assets of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and other government agencies.

• It is expected to own, hold, manage and monetise surplus land and building assets of CPSEsunder closure and the surplus non-core land assets of government-owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment.
• It will also advise and support other government entities(including CPSEs) in identifying their surplus non-core assets and monetising them in a professional and efficient manner to generate maximum value realisation.
• It will hire professionals from the private sectorjust as in the case of similar specialised government companies like the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Invest India. This would be done as real estate monetisation requires specialised skills and expertise in areas such as market research, legal due diligence, valuation, master planning, investment banking and land management.

It is expected that NLMC will act as a repository of best practices in land monetization.

Why should the government focus on Land Monetisation?

Huge potential: There exists huge portions of land that are lying vacant with government agencies or are being utilised in an improper manner. Various estimates in the public domain peg the extent of land held by various government agencies in excess of 5 lakh hectares.

Additional Revenue: With monetization of non-core assets, the government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetising unused and under-used assets.

Realising the true value of Disinvestment: For CPSEs undergoing strategic disinvestment or closure, monetisation of these surplus land and non-core assets is important to unlock their value.

Reviving the Economy: Prudent monetisation will help in reviving the Indian economy that has witnessed a brutal setback after the COVID-19 pandemic. Monetisation will not only generate greater income for the government but will also encourage private investments and job creation.

Social Development: With additional revenue in hand, the government would be in a better position to spend on education, health and other social sector areas without raising debt for the same. India is already expecting a Fiscal Deficit of 6.9% in FY2021-22.

What is the rationale behind its creation of NLMC?

Meeting Monetisation targets: The corporation will help in meeting the target of the National Monetisation Pipeline. The pipeline envisages to generate Rs 6 lakh crore through core assets of the central government over a four-year period from 2021-22 to 2024-25. Top five sectors including roads, railways, power, oil and gas pipelines and telecom account for around 83% of the aggregate value.

Facts for Prelims :

UPI123Pay

The Reserve Bank of India launched a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments solution for feature phone users dubbed ‘UPI123Pay’.

About 

• UPI was introduced in 2016 and has become one of the most used digital payments platforms in the country.
• The volume of UPI transactions has already reached ?76 lakh crore in the current year, compared to ?41 lakh crore in FY21.
  • However, at present, efficient access to UPI is available largely via smartphones.

About UPI123Pay 

• UPI (unified payments interface) ‘123PAY’ is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones.
• The new UPI-based service is designed to bring the digital payments platform closer to a significant number of feature phone mobile subscribers in the country, which is estimated to be more than 40 crore. 

Features: 

• It doesn’t need an internet connection for transactions. Customers have to link their bank account with feature phones to use this facility.
• Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives.
• They include calling an IVR (interactive voice response) number, app functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and also proximity sound-based payments.
• It will lapse in February 2021 unless extended for a five-year period.