The state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has an outstanding debt of 3.2 trillion rupees ($38 billion) and is betting on leveraging assets through infrastructure investment trusts to repay its loans.
“With this, the overall debt liability of NHAI is expected to further reduce to around 3 trillion rupees at the end of fiscal 2025,” it said in a statement.
Infrastructure investment trusts have gained popularity in recent years amid India ramping up its infrastructure spending to bolster economic growth.
The statement said that the company hoped to save about 10 billion rupees by retiring high-cost debt worth 157 billion rupees ahead of schedule.
The highways authority had earlier raised about 160 billion rupees by monetising its assets of 889 kilometres of toll roads. The authority, which handles 983 toll plazas, has set a target of building 10,421 kilometres of new national highways in the current fiscal year, Nitin Gadkari, India’s road transport and highways minister told parliament last week. The authority plans to spend nearly 1.68 trillion rupees on road projects in the current fiscal year, largely funded through the federal budget, toll collections and monetisation of assets.