India aims to generate ₹47,000 crore from disinvestment and asset monetisation in the financial year 2025-26, lower than the ₹50,000 crore targeted for FY25, according to Budget documents.
The latest estimate, categorised under “miscellaneous capital receipts,” surpasses the revised FY25 estimate of ₹33,000 crore. The government has maintained its stance of not setting a separate disinvestment target, a strategy it first adopted in the February 2024 Union Budget.
“The general elections last year delayed the process. Asset monetisation is expected to gain momentum as the government moves into the second phase,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is advancing the strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank, which is likely to spill over into FY26 as financial bidders undergo regulatory approval.
Other stake sales in BEML, Shipping Corporation of India, HLL Lifecare Ltd, and Project & Development India Ltd are ongoing but face slow progress.
The government has scrapped the divestments of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Pawan Hans, while the stake sales in Container Corporation of India remain pending.
Officials said the administration would consider disinvestment and dividends collectively as proceeds from public-sector dividends would contribute to overall receipts.
Public sector dividends are projected to rise to ₹69,000 crore in FY26, surpassing the FY25 budgeted ₹56,260 crore and the revised ₹55,000 crore. The estimate also exceeds the ₹65,381 crore collected in FY24.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the second phase of the Asset Monetisation Plan, aiming to unlock ₹10 trillion in value from underutilised public assets over 2025-30. “Building on the success of the first plan announced in 2021, we will reinvest proceeds into new infrastructure,” she said.
The government has trimmed its fertiliser subsidy allocation to ₹1.68 lakh crore for FY26, down from the revised ₹1.71 lakh crore for the current fiscal. The food subsidy is set at ₹2.03 lakh crore, slightly higher than the ₹1.97 lakh crore revised estimate for FY25.