The central government releases funds to NHAI for monetization primarily to unlock the capital value of operational highway assets and to reinvest these funds into building new, critical infrastructure.
ET has seen the circular.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had drawn up a tentative list of 24 road assets to be monetised in 2025-26 with the total length to be monetised pegged at 1,472 km.
Out of the 24 projects, five road projects are in Maharashtra, four in Jharkhand, three in Uttar Pradesh, two each in West Bengal, Bihar and Telangana and one each in Chattisgarh, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Odisha.
The target for 2025-26 is lower when compared to 2024-25 when NHAI had identified 33 highway stretches with a total length of 2741 km across the country for monetisation.
NHAI has three modes for monetizing, i.e. toll operate transfer (TOT), InvIT and securitization. Under toll-operate-transfer (TOT) mode, the right of collection of fees for selected operational national highway projects constructed through public funding is assigned to a concessionaire against upfront payment of a lump-sum amount to NHAI.The ministry of road transport and highways targets a revenue of around Rs 30,000 crore through asset monetisation in 2025-26.
MoRTH has cumulatively monetised Rs 1,52,028 crore through various modes of asset monetization till November 2025.
Under the TOT model, the ministry has monetised Rs 58,265 crore through Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) and Rs 9,270 crore has already been awarded under TOT mode during the current FY 2025-26.
Further, the MoRTH has monetised Rs 43,638 crore through InvIT mode while Rs 50,125 crore has been raised so far through securitisation.