15L cr and counting: Govt assets in 2017-18

The government owns assets worth at least Rs 15.10 lakh crore in the form of land, buildings, machinery and vehicles among others, an increase of around 1.66 lakh crore in a year.

If one takes fiscal from 2015-16 to 2017-18 into account, the rise in assets is around Rs 4 lakh crore.

The present value of assets owned by the government would be much more as the budget documents have recorded only assets above the threshold value of Rs two lakh only at the end of 2017-18. The assets of Cabinet Secretariats, paramilitary forces, Ministry of Defence and Department of Space and Atomic Energy also do not figure in this list.

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According to budget 2019-20 documents, the government acquired assets worth Rs 1.66 lakh crore in 2017-18. While at the beginning of the fiscal, the assets were valued at Rs 13.42 lakh crore, it rose to Rs 15.10 lakh crore at the end.

Of this, physical assets like land, building, roads and bridges are valued at Rs 4.91 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.81 lakh crore at the beginning of 2017-18.

Financial assets like shares and loans to states and foreign countries are around Rs 10.19 lakh crore, an increase from Rs 8.62 lakh crore.

Among the assets, the government has land valued at Rs 3.56 lakh crore, while it was Rs 1.69 lakh crore in 2015-16.

Bridges across the country owned by the central government are valued at Rs 12,276 crore, with new bridges valued at Rs 132.94 crore coming up in the last fiscal. Vehicles were valued at Rs 2,481 crore, up from Rs 1996.58 crore in 2016-17.

The value of shares owned by the government is Rs 3.30 lakh crore, up from Rs 2.21 lakh crore earlier. It has also given loans to the tune of Rs 14,077.04 crore to foreign countries.