India plans highway monetization worth ₹35,000cr
What's the story
The Indian government is planning to monetize 28 national highway assets, covering over 1,800km in FY27. The move is expected to generate around ₹35,000 crore. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has identified the highway stretches for monetization with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh leading the list. The monetization will be done through public-private infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) and toll-operate-transfer (TOT) models.
Asset strategy
Prioritizing hybrid annuity model assets for monetization
A government official has revealed that this year's monetization will include two built-operate-transfer (BOT) projects and seven engineering procurement and construction (EPC) projects. The official also said that the government prefers monetizing hybrid annuity model assets as the capital expenditure risk is comparatively lower than other project types. This strategy comes after the government allowed sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest directly in greenfield toll-road projects.
Revenue goals
Previous fiscal year's achievements and future plans
In the fiscal year 2025-26, the road ministry's monetization receipts stood at ₹29,000 crore. Earlier this year, the ministry's first public InvIT raised over ₹9,000 crore by monetizing five highway sections covering over 260km across four states. Over the next three to five years, an additional 1,500km of completed and operational national highways will be brought into public InvIT to enable asset recycling and generate more revenue for national highway development in India.
Future projections
National Monetization Pipeline estimates for highway sector
According to the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) 2.0, unveiled in February, the total monetization value for the highway sector is estimated at ₹4.42 lakh crore over a five-year period from FY26 to FY30. Monetization of assets in FY27 are expected to generate ₹68,770 crore. A major difference from NMP1.0 is that even BOT projects bid out in the current fiscal year will be included under monetization plans.