Oppose the anti-worker, anti-people and anti-social NMP 2.0!

By Dr A Mathew, Secretary, Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC)

Monetisation is nothing but another form of privatisation. Each of the methods of monetisation are so designed as to disproportionately benefit capitalists. Privatisation is anti-worker, anti-people and anti-social and so is NMP 2.0, like NMP 1.0 was. The use of assets built with public money for private profit, under any name, has to be opposed. The privatisation agenda of the ruling class of monopoly capitalists has been pushed by every political party or coalition that has formed the government at the Center or in states. The working class must expose those parties who oppose privatisation at the Center but pursue it when in power in a state or vice-versa.

The privatisation of the government departments and undertakings was given a further big push on 23 February 2026 when the Union Finance Minister launched the National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0 (NMP 2.0). It aims to collect Rs 16.72 lakh crore over the five years, between 2025-26 and 2029-30 by monetising assets of various government departments and public sector units. The target for NMP 2.0 is as much as 2.6 times more than the target of the NMP 1.0 which was launched in 2021.

According to the government, the ambitious privatisation plan under NMP 2.0 has been drawn up based on the success of the NMP 1.0 wherein 89% of the target of Rs 6 lakh crore was achieved over the four-year period covering 2021-22 to 2024-25.

Various forms of privatisation are planned under NMP 2.0. As per the government’s own admission, “PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) are an important mode of monetisation under NMP 2.0”. Other modes of privatisation planned are sale of shares, leasing of lands on long term basis for development, auction of mines, etc.

As we know, capitalists prefer PPP as a mode of privatisation where risks are high. Under this model, profit is privatised but losses are socialised. This means the burden of losses is passed on to the government while profits are kept by capitalists.

Under NMP 2.0, more than a quarter of the money, or Rs 4.42 lakh crore, is expected to be raised from the monetisation of 21,300 kilometres of highways, 15 Multi-Modal Logistics Parks, and six ropeways. The next largest privatisation push is in the power sector with a target of Rs 2.77 lakh crore and in the railways and port sectors with targets of Rs 2.62 lakh crore and Rs 2.64 lakh crore respectively. The coal sector is getting another push with a target of Rs 2.16 lakh crore. These five sectors account for 87 percent of the NMP 2.0 target. Other sectors covered by NMP 2.0 are mines, urban infrastructure, civil aviation, petroleum & natural gas, warehousing & storage, telecom and tourism.

Sale of shares owned by government in public sector undertakings (PSUs) has been another preferred method of privatisation. The NMP 2.0 will give it a further push, as seen in the following table.

Sale of shares of PSUs

Workers cannot be fooled by the government’s claim that monetisation does not amount to privatisation. Each of the methods of monetisation are so designed as to disproportionately benefit capitalists. Even if the ownership or control remains with the government, the gains go to private hands. For example, when the land is leased for 40 or more years, the government earns lease rent but the profit from the use of land accrues to capitalist for that long period of time.

Once shares of a PSU are listed and sold on the stock exchange, the orientation of the PSU is forced to be changed from service to maximisation of profit and shareholder value. Taking care of the interest of shareholders become paramount and interests of people is neglected.

In many PSUs, repeated divestment of shares has already brought down the government shareholding close to 51 per cent, the minimum required to remain a PSU at present. The Economic Survey presented by the Ministry of Finance in 2026 has already proposed that the minimum government shareholding limit for PSU be reduced to 26 per cent from 51 per cent. Once it is done, it will be easy for the control of a PSU to be taken over by a capitalist.

Privatisation is anti-worker, anti-people and anti-social and so is NMP 2.0, like NMP 1.0 was. The use of assets built with public money for private profit, under any name, has to be opposed. Providing public services of good quality at affordable rates is the responsibility of the government. Privatisation takes public services beyond the reach of crores of our people.

The privatisation agenda of the ruling class of monopoly capitalists has been pushed by every political party or coalition that has formed the government at the Center or in states. The working class must expose those parties who oppose privatisation at the Center but pursue it when in power in a state or vice-versa.

While united struggles of the working class can halt the privatisation attempts in a particular sector for some time, such as we saw in the case of attempts at corporatisation of Indian Railways in 2019, the attempt to introduce a private company, Titagarh into ICF, the continuous struggle in RINL, the opposition to privatisation of BPCL etc, the ruling monopoly class will always try to reimpose the same agenda when the working class opposition in that sector slows down. It’s only the unity of the entire working class and toilers that will be able to stall privatisation.

A permanent end to privatisation requires simultaneously working towards preparing the working class to become the ruling class of the country.