The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is looking to raise a record Rs.600 billion from monetisation in the current fiscal. While the marque toll-operate-transfer (TOT) highways will form a large portion of the exercise, a third of this money is likely to come from the NHAI InvIT and private InvITs that may be directly offered road projects for the first time this year.
The higher monetisation in FY25 is expected to maintain the momentum gained in last fiscal when for the first time a sum of Rs.3.83 billion was mobilised from ToT, InvIT and project-based financing. This was a growth of over 64 per cent over the FY23 figure of Rs.233.36 billion.
A factor in favour of the ministry's monetisation drive is a revival in private sector interest in road and highway projects. Out of the total capital investment of Rs.3.01 trillion in the sector in FY24, Rs.348 billion, the highest-ever, has come from the private sector. Since FY19, NHAI monetised Rs.423 billion worth of projects under the ToT route, while monetisation has garnered Rs.259 billion through the NHAI InvIT since FY22.
