The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to reduce its debt by half by year 2030 and also projecting revenue surplus by 2028. NHAI debt is currently rated AAA by rating agencies. NHAI also plans to monetize a lot of assets in the coming years via National Highways Infra Trust (InvIT). As per NHAI data, the total debt was Rs 3.43 trillion at the end of March 2023 quarter.

As Indian Government has been pushing forward with large roads and infrastructure projects, NHAI plays an important role in all those projects. NHAI recovers the money from toll charged from the vehicles moving on the highways. NHAI is expecting 10 percent growth in toll revenues for the next few years. The traffic on the highway

At the current pace of highway development across India, NHAI is adding average of 5,000 kilometers of toll-based highways every year. Depending on government’s push for new highways, this number could go even higher. As per NHAI estimates, the revenue for year 2023-24 is expected to remain Rs 43,000 crore. For 2024-25, Rs 77,000 crore, 2025-26 for Rs 92,000, 2026-27 for Rs 110,000 and 2027-28 for Rs 120,000.

As per a report published by Financial Express citing an official, “Of the total outstanding, Rs 1.81 trillion will be repaid between 2023-24 and 2029-30. The entire outstanding debt of NHAI will be cleared by 2049-50, but beyond 2029-30, the pressure of repayment will be much less.”

“It has been prescribed that funds raised through InvIT shall be used by NHAI exclusively for debt servicing. In 15 years, NHAI has the capability to repay all the debt,” the official said. During the past couple of years, NHAI has registered almost 50 percent jump in toll revenue.