Disclaimer: Education only. Figures are as published by the government or reported from official statements on the dates shown. They change every month, so check the linked source before you quote one.

In simple words (if you are in class 10)

Think of India's roads like the blood vessels in a body. National highways are the main arteries. They link states, ports and big cities. They are only about 2% of India's total road length, but they carry a very large share of its traffic.

The central government decides which roads become national highways and finds the money. A government company called NHAI builds and looks after most of them. Private companies do most of the actual construction. Some of them also put in their own money and get it back from tolls, the fee you pay at a plaza.

Once a road is built and earning toll, the government can lease it to an investor for many years in return for a big payment today. It uses that payment to build new roads. This is called asset monetisation, and it is the reason InvITs exist in the road sector.

The professional view

1. Who does what

Body Role Official site
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Policy, declares national highways under the National Highways Act, 1956, sets standards and fee rules, funds projects morth.nic.in
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Statutory authority under the NHAI Act, 1988. Develops, maintains and manages the national highways entrusted to it, awards EPC, HAM, BOT and TOT contracts nhai.gov.in
NHIDCL Government company building highways in the North-East, border and strategic areas nhidcl.com
IHMCL NHAI company that runs electronic tolling (FASTag, annual pass, Rajmarg Yatra app) ihmcl.co.in
State PWDs and road corporations Execute some national highway works on the ministry's behalf, and own state highways State websites
NPCI Runs the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) switch behind FASTag npci.org.in
Indian Roads Congress (IRC) Technical codes and specifications for road design and maintenance irc.nic.in
Lenders: banks, NaBFID, IIFCL, insurers Project and takeout finance See the industry directory

2. The network in numbers

91,287 km20141,32,499 kmMar 20191,46,195 kmDec 20241,46,560 kmDec 2025
National highway network (km)Source: MoRTH figures as reported by Orissa Post (2014, 2024) and NBM&CW (2019, 2025).
  • 91,287 km of national highways in 2014 and 1,46,195 km by the end of 2024, a rise of about 60% (MoRTH year-end review, as reported by Orissa Post).
  • About 1,46,560 km by December 2025, up from 1,32,499 km in March 2019 (NBM&CW, citing MoRTH).
  • National high-speed corridors grew from 93 km (2014) to 2,474 km (2024), and four-lane-and-above stretches from 31,066 km (2019) to 43,512 km (2025) (same sources).

3. Bharatmala and the corridor approach

Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I planned about 34,800 km of economic corridors, inter-corridor and feeder routes, border and coastal roads and expressways. By September 2025, 26,425 km had been awarded across 796 projects and 21,248 km completed (NBM&CW, citing MoRTH).

Planned length (Phase I)34,800 kmAwarded (796 projects)26,425 kmCompleted, Sep 202521,248 km
Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I progressSource: MoRTH, as reported by NBM&CW, December 2025.

The older backbone is still the Golden Quadrilateral (Delhi–Mumbai–Chennai–Kolkata) and the North–South and East–West corridors from the National Highways Development Project. Newer access-controlled expressways, such as the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, run alongside them.

70°E75°E80°E85°E90°E10°N15°N20°N25°N30°N35°NSrinagarDelhiJaipurAhmedabadVadodaraSuratMumbaiPuneBengaluruChennaiVisakhapatnamBhubaneswarKolkataVaranasiKanpurJhansiNagpurHyderabadKanyakumariPorbandarRajkotUdaipurKotaLucknowGorakhpurMuzaffarpurSiliguriGuwahatiSilcharBharuch
  • Golden Quadrilateral
  • North–South corridor
  • East–West corridor
  • Delhi–Mumbai Expressway (approximate)
Main national highway corridors (schematic) Cities are placed by latitude and longitude. This is a route schematic, not a map: no boundaries are shown and it is not to scale. The gold ring marks the Surat–Bharuch MLFF section.

4. How projects are procured

Mode Who funds construction Who takes traffic risk Typical use today
EPC Government, 100% Government (it collects the toll) The largest share of awards
HAM Government 40% during construction, developer 60% repaid through annuities Government Large share since 2016
BOT (Toll) Developer Developer Revived through the March 2024 MCA changes
TOT Investor pays an upfront fee for an already-built road Investor Monetising operating roads

The detail of each model, the risk matrix and the HAM payment mechanics are in BOT, TOT, HAM and EPC explained.

5. Asset monetisation

The government recycles capital by leasing operating roads to long-term investors. The three routes are TOT concessions, InvITs and project-based securitisation of toll receivables.

  • By the end of FY 2023-24, TOT bundles had realised ₹42,334 crore in total, of which four bundles brought in ₹15,968 crore that year. In FY 2024-25, a 251 km stretch of NH-44 in Telangana went for ₹6,661 crore on a 20-year concession (MoRTH year-end review, as reported).
  • Under the November 2019 revisions, TOT concession periods vary between 15 and 30 years depending on the stretch, and later bundles have mostly used 20 years (Indian Infrastructure).
  • The National Monetisation Pipeline gives the government-wide programme, of which roads are the largest single sector.

Why investors pay: an operating road has no construction risk, a long remaining life, inflation-linked tolls and a clear termination-payment regime. Why the price can disappoint: traffic forecasts, major maintenance cost, change-in-law events such as the annual pass, and competing roads. These are covered in Risks and Due diligence.

6. Tolling is changing fast

  • FASTag has been mandatory since February 2021. The annual pass for private cars started on 15 August 2025 at ₹3,000, and has been ₹3,075 since 1 April 2026, for one year or 200 plaza crossings. More than 56 lakh users had bought it by early 2026 (NBM&CW).
  • Barrier-free multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling, using number-plate cameras plus FASTag, went live on the Surat–Bharuch section of NH-48 in Gujarat in 2026 (circled on the schematic above) (Drishti, May 2026).
  • GNSS-based distance tolling is allowed by the September 2024 amendment to the Fee Rules (News On AIR).

The detail, including how concessionaires are compensated for annual-pass trips, is in Toll fee rules, FASTag, GNSS and MLFF.

7. What a sector veteran watches

  1. Award mix by mode. A shift between EPC, HAM and BOT changes who carries risk, and the order books of listed developers.
  2. Land and clearances. Most delays still start with land acquisition under the National Highways Act, 1956 (sections 3A to 3J) and with utility shifting.
  3. Monetisation pipeline. Which stretches are offered through TOT or InvIT, at what valuation multiples and with what concession periods.
  4. Dispute policy. The January 2026 change in NHAI's dispute framework affects claim recovery. See Disputes and arbitration.
  5. Lender rules. The RBI's project finance directions (from 1 October 2025) changed provisioning during construction. See Project finance and lenders.

Sources

Education only. This page is not investment, tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not recommend buying, selling or holding any security. Laws and rules change: check the linked primary source and consult a qualified professional before acting.

Last reviewed 25 October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.