Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has issued the following statement about the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) 2.0:

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) expresses its vehement condemnation and total rejection of the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) 2.0 (FY 2026–2030) launched by the Union Finance Minister on February 23, 2026. This second phase, developed by NITI Aayog following the of the Union Budget 2025-26, is a draconian crony blueprint for systematic looting, by dismantling of India’s public and government sector and the wholesale transfer of national assets to monopoly private corporations, both domestic and foreign. By setting a staggering target of Rs.16.72 lakh crore, a figure 67 per cent higher than the initial estimate of Rs.10 lakh crore, and over 2.6 times the scale of NMP 1.0, the Modi government has signalled an unprecedented acceleration in asset stripping. CITU denounces the Finance Minister’s celebratory claims regarding NMP 1.0’s success in achieving 89 per cent of its target. What the government calls success, the working class recognises as daylight robbery of public assets, across mining, highways, coal, and ports, at a paltry amount.

The preliminary study of NMP 2.0 reveals a predatory rentier capitalist agenda masquerading as capital recycling. This pipeline formalises a private rent-seeking model of governance, where the state abdicates its role as a provider of public goods to become a facilitator for coupon-clipping private interests.

In this present era of capitalism, private corporate giants no longer are obliged to invest in infrastructure; instead, they are invited to collect rents from the pre-existing brownfield public assets. In truth, the government is handing over brownfield infrastructure, built over decades with public money and already de-risked, to private corporations. These entities are being gifted guaranteed cash flows from 12 strategic and essential service sectors, allowing them to extract toll, user fees and tariffs from a captive population. This is a deliberate strategy to handicap the country’s future earnings to fix current fiscal deficits caused by reckless corporate tax cuts.

The Highways, Multi-modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs), and Ropeways sectors face a massive sell out, essentially privatising the right of movement and turning every road into a rent-collection point. Railways and Ports, the strategic lifelines of our economy, are being hit to collect easy money. Huge Power assets are being served to private players, which will inevitably lead to skyrocketing electricity tariffs as rent-seekers prioritise profit margins over energy security. Furthermore, the Coal sector is being auctioned off, surrendering sovereign control over our energy and mineral wealth to extractors. Even Petroleum, Civil Aviation, Telecom, and Urban Real Estate have been put on the block to satisfy the unstoppable appetite of private capital.

CITU highlights that the framework of NMP 2.0 utilizing Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concessions, Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), and the securitisation of cash flows effectively alienates these assets for decades, creating a permanent transfer of revenue to private corporations.

For the Indian working class, NMP 2.0 is another economic attack to rip out the right to essential public services.

As private operators prioritize their rate of return over public service, the working people and the common citizen will be crushed under exorbitant user fees. CITU warns that the Viksit Bharat rhetoric is a hollow cover for a corporate-controlled economy where the public pays twice, first to build the asset through taxes, and then to a private monopoly for the right to use it. We demand the immediate scrapping of this pipeline and call upon all working people and citizens to unite in massive resistance to save our national assets from the parasitic grip of NMP 2.0.

Stop the Sale of the Nation! Save the Public Assets! Scrap NMP 2.0!