NHAI to List Highways With Long-Term Monetisation Potential

16 Jun 2025 CW Team

The initiative aims to maximise asset value and offer investors greater visibility into potential future opportunities. According to officials, this register will include technical and financial data to assess revenue viability, allowing investors to formulate strategic plans for engagement with India's road infrastructure market.

For the current financial year, the monetisation list includes 24 highway stretches spanning 1,472 km, with a revenue target of Rs 300 billion. However, this target may increase, as the government's updated asset monetisation strategy calls for a more aggressive approach to asset sales.

The upcoming asset register will classify highway stretches based on revenue potential: highly attractive, moderately attractive, potentially attractive, and low revenue per kilometre. Stretches with minimal returns will be excluded from monetisation bundles. Instead, bundles will be structured to balance immediate revenue with future growth, reducing risk and enhancing investor appeal.

Highways must meet strict eligibility criteria to enter the register:

Must be operational for at least one year
Construction must be fully completed
No major upgrades required in the near term
Toll revenue should exceed Rs 8 million per km per year
Must be free of legal disputes or liabilities

NHAI also plans to launch a public InvIT, offering three asset bundles every quarter, enabling retail investors to participate in the highway monetisation programme. This will run parallel to the private InvIT, the National Highway Infrastructure Trust (NHIT), which has already completed four monetisation rounds.

By streamlining project information and classifying assets based on investor interest, NHAI’s expanded monetisation strategy seeks to boost funding, enhance transparency, and accelerate development across India’s national highways network.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to create a dedicated register of highway assets with long-term monetisation potential, complementing its existing annual list of roads earmarked for commercialisation through toll-operate-transfer (TOT) and infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) models.The initiative aims to maximise asset value and offer investors greater visibility into potential future opportunities. According to officials, this register will include technical and financial data to assess revenue viability, allowing investors to formulate strategic plans for engagement with India's road infrastructure market.For the current financial year, the monetisation list includes 24 highway stretches spanning 1,472 km, with a revenue target of Rs 300 billion. However, this target may increase, as the government's updated asset monetisation strategy calls for a more aggressive approach to asset sales.The upcoming asset register will classify highway stretches based on revenue potential: highly attractive, moderately attractive, potentially attractive, and low revenue per kilometre. Stretches with minimal returns will be excluded from monetisation bundles. Instead, bundles will be structured to balance immediate revenue with future growth, reducing risk and enhancing investor appeal.Highways must meet strict eligibility criteria to enter the register:Must be operational for at least one yearConstruction must be fully completedNo major upgrades required in the near termToll revenue should exceed Rs 8 million per km per yearMust be free of legal disputes or liabilitiesNHAI also plans to launch a public InvIT, offering three asset bundles every quarter, enabling retail investors to participate in the highway monetisation programme. This will run parallel to the private InvIT, the National Highway Infrastructure Trust (NHIT), which has already completed four monetisation rounds.By streamlining project information and classifying assets based on investor interest, NHAI’s expanded monetisation strategy seeks to boost funding, enhance transparency, and accelerate development across India’s national highways network.

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