A recent analysis by Icra, a reputable ratings agency, suggests that the Indian government holds the potential to generate between ₹35,000 crore and ₹40,000 crore in the 2025-26 fiscal year. This revenue is projected to come from the timely monetization of road assets identified by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Icra’s projections are grounded in a median valuation multiple of 0.62X, derived from ten Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) bundles successfully awarded by NHAI over the preceding three years. The NHAI has predominantly employed two asset monetization mechanisms since FY2018-19: TOT and Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), with the TOT method contributing 53% of the total monetization during FY2019-FY2025.
Should this anticipated monetization for FY2025-26 materialize, the cumulative proceeds from NHAI’s asset monetization efforts since their inception would reach approximately ₹1.3 trillion. For the current fiscal year, 2024-25, the National Monetization Pipeline had set a target of around ₹53,366 crore for 8,894 km of roads, while the 2024-25 budget projected a lower figure of ₹30,000 crore. As of now in 2024-25, NHAI has generated ₹24,399 crore through the monetization of TOT bundle 16 (₹6,661 crore, covering 252 km) and the fourth round of asset transfer to the NHAI InvIT (₹17,738 crore, covering 821 km), totaling 1,073 km of roads.
Source: www.livemint.com