CITU slams NMP 2.0 as blueprint for national plunder

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has vehemently condemned the Union Government’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) 2.0, terming it a “draconian blueprint for national plunder.” In a scathing statement issued on Wednesday, the trade union body called for massive resistance against the proposed Rs 16.72 lakh crore public asset stripping.

The second phase of the NMP (FY 2026-2030), launched by the Union Finance Minister on February 23, follows the Union Budget 2025-26. CITU alleged that the plan is designed for the systematic dismantling of India’s public sector and the wholesale transfer of national assets to monopoly private corporations.

“By setting a staggering target of Rs 16.72 lakh crore - a figure 67 per cent higher than the initial estimate and over 2.6 times the scale of NMP 1.0 — the Government has signalled an unprecedented acceleration in asset stripping,” said Elamaram Kareem, General Secretary of CITU.

The union rejected the Government’s celebratory claims regarding the success of NMP 1.0, which achieved 89 per cent of its target. What the Government calls success, the working class recognises as the “daylight robbery” of assets across mining, highways, coal, and ports, the statement noted.

CITU argued that the pipeline formalises a “private rent-seeking model” where the State abdicates its role as a provider of public goods. It claimed that brownfield infrastructure, built over decades with public money, is being handed over to private entities with guaranteed cash flows from 12 strategic sectors.

The union warned that the privatisation of highways, railways, and ports would turn essential movement into rent-collection points. It further cautioned that handing over power assets to private players would lead to skyrocketing electricity tariffs, while the auctioning of the coal sector would surrender sovereign control over mineral wealth.

“The public pays twice - first to build the asset through taxes, and then to a private monopoly for the right to use it,” Kareem stated, adding that the ‘Viksit Bharat’ rhetoric is a hollow cover for a corporate-controlled economy.

Demanding the immediate scrapping of the pipeline, CITU called upon citizens and the working class to unite in resistance to save national assets from the “parasitic grip” of NMP 2.0.