Government won't sponsor InvITs for road sector

The Centre has shelved a plan to invest public funds in infrastructure development through Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) for the road and highway sector. India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is preparing to attract retail investment through non-government, private sector InvITs for the construction of infrastructure, and the Centre is awaiting Sebi's approval. InvITs are collective investment vehicles that enable private and institutional investors to make direct investments in infrastructure projects while paying them a small return percentage. By combining various infrastructure assets under a single organisation, developers can make money off of their assets using InvITs (trust structure). The government had originally intended to gather money from small investors through a number of road and highway InvITs with guaranteed returns supported by sovereign guarantees. However, instead of providing guaranteed returns due to the lengthy gestation period of highway projects and variable revenue sources, the Centre will now let the market determine returns. Also read: BRO proposes environment-friendly tech to construct roads in Arunachal NHAI, AITD sign MoU to promote R&D in highways