Snapshot

Highway to growth

India has the second largest road network in the world, spanning about 66.71 Lakh km, which includes national highways, state highways, district roads, and rural roads. This extensive network ensures connectivity across various regions of the country.

National Highways (NH) play a very important role in the economic and social development of the country by enabling efficient movement of freight and passengers and improving access to market. They account for 2% of the total road network and carry over 40% of total traffic. The pace of NH construction has increased consistently due to the systematic push through corridor-based National Highway development approach, from about 12 km/ day in 2014-15 to about 28.3 km/ day in 2022-23.

The Indian Government has been actively investing in the development of road infrastructure. Major initiatives like the Bharatmala Pariyojana aim to upgrade and expand the road network, including the construction of expressways, economic corridors, and feeder routes. The first phase of the programme will develop 34,800 km of highways, including 27 Greenfield corridors and India’s largest expressway (a 1,386 km long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway). Under the Pariyojana, 60% projects have been envisaged on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), 10% projects on BOT (Toll) Mode, and 30% projects on EPC mode.

The roads and highways sector has pioneered several innovative public-private partnership (PPP) models besides having a strong contractual framework compared with other sectors. These factors have led to significant investments from private players in the sector. Several incentives have also been announced by the Government to attract private sector participation and foreign direct investment, which include Government bearing the cost of project feasibility study, land for the right of way and way side amenities, shifting of utilities, environment clearances, etc.

100% FDI in roads and highways is allowed under automatic route.

For further details, please refer FDI Policy

  • Km/Day

    Pace of NH Construction in FY 2022-23

  • Lakh Km+

    Total length of National Highways (2022-23)

  • $ Bn+

    Investments raised by NHAI InvIT from FIIs and DIIs (up to Dec 2022)

Road transport carries ~87% of India’s total passenger traffic and more than 60% of its freight

According to the Economic Survey, there has been an increase in the construction of National Highways (NHs)/roads over time, with 10,457 km of roads constructed in FY22 as compared to 6,061 km in FY16

Highest ever construction of 37 km/day of highways in 2020-21

Industry Scenario

The GoI has given a massive push to infrastructure by allocating about $1.4 Tn for infrastructure to be invested until 2025.

The market for roads and highways in India is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 36.16% during 2016-2025, on account of growing government initiatives to improve transportation infrastructure in the country. 

The highways sector in India has been at the forefront of performance and innovation. The government has successfully rolled out over 60 road projects in India worth over $10 Bn based on the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM). HAM has balanced risk appropriately between private and public partners and boosted PPP activity in the sector.

Asset recycling, through the toll-operate-transfer (ToT) model has been taken up by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for 100 highways. The first two bundles of 9 highways each were monetized successfully for an investment of over $2 Bn.

NHAI has created Guinness World Record by constructing 75 km continuous Single Lane Bituminous Concrete Road in record time of 105 hours 33 minutes, between Amravati and Akola on NH 53 in Maharashtra.

NHAI along with Maha Metro achieved the Guinness World Record by constructing longest Double Decker Viaduct (3.14 km) with Highway Flyover & Metro Rail supported on single column in between 3 metro stations in Nagpur.

As one of the biggest reforms in the road transportation industry in India, the NHAI has gone ‘Fully Digital’, with the launch of a unique cloud-based and Artificial Intelligence-powered Big Data Analytics platform – Data Lake and Project Management Software. The entire project management work flow of NHAI is transformed from manual to online portal based, wherein the complete project execution operations including ‘workflow with time lines’ and ‘alert mechanism’ have been configured. All project documentation, contractual decisions and approvals are now being done through portal only.

GROWTH DRIVERS

  • NH expansion

    Length of national highways to reach 200,000 km

  • Growing demand

    Production of all vehicle segments reached 26 Mn

  • Policy support

    Standardized process for bidding and tolling

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GIS - based map displaying available infrastructure for setting up business operations in the state.

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    FAQs

    Frequently
    Asked Questions

    What amount of Foreign Direct Investment is permitted in streets and parkways?

    ​100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed under the automatic route in the road and highways sector​. 

    For more information, click here​.

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    What is Value Engineering Programme?

    The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India plans to implement 'Value Engineering Programme' in order to promote use of new technologies and material in highway projects being executed in India.

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    What is Special Accelerated Road Development Programme?

    Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has taken up an ambitious Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) for development of road network in the north eastern States of the Country.

    For more information, click here.

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    Does the road and highway sector provide any tax benefits post GST?

    Few tax benefits post GST in the Roads & Highway sector are:

    1. Interstate check posts removed, travel time of long-haul trucks, other cargo vehicles cut by at least one-fifth
    2. Rate for all goods expected to be in the range of 18%
    3. Logistics cost down to 10-12% of total value of goods

    For more information, click here

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    What is the development plan and budget of Bharatmala?

    A total of around 24,800 kms is being considered in Phase I of Bharatmala. In addition, Bharatmala Pariyojana phase -I also includes 10,000 kms of balance road works under NHDP, taking the total to 34,800 kms at an estimated cost of INR. 5,35,000 cr. Bharatmala Phase I - is to be implemented over a five years period of i.e. 2017-18 to 2021-22.

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