The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the lowering of the Railway Land Licensing Fee—from 6% to 1.5%—to aid disinvestment of the state-owned Container Corp. of India Ltd.
Officials from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, NITI Aayog, Concor, and the Indian Railways had met in May to provide concluding inputs for the policy to the cabinet.
The divestment process is set to commence once the new licensing fee policy comes into effect.
The central government is keen to sell its 30.8% stake in Concor. Lower land lease fees make the national container transporter more lucrative to private players.
Of Concor's 61 container terminals, 26 are located on railway land. It earlier paid the fee based on the volume or 20-foot-equivalent units of railway land it leased.
From April 2021, Indian Railways charged 6% of the industrial land value per acre as fee, and it would be raised to 7% annually to factor in inflation.
The new railway land leasing fee policy will be applicable to both government departments as well as private players. Earlier, it applied only on land licensed by government departments for industrial purposes.
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