Evaluate India’s road infrastructure push under Bharatmala Pariyojana and the National Highways monetisation strategy.

Introduction:

The Bharatmala Pariyojana, approved by the Cabinet in October 2017 with Phase-I outlay of ₹5.35 lakh crore, targets 34,800 km of national highways across economic corridors, inter-corridor routes, feeder routes, border roads, expressways and coastal corridors. As of March 2026, NHAI has constructed 18,714 km under Phase-I (MoRTH Annual Report 2024-25), India's national-highway network has crossed 1,46,145 km.

Construction performance: NH construction averaged 36.5 km/day in FY24 (PIB), against 12 km/day in 2014. Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM, 60-40 risk share) has emerged as the dominant award mode — 67% of FY25 awards — balancing the BOT model's high-risk failure (2012-15) and the EPC model's fiscal load. The Vehicle Scrapping Policy 2021 and FASTag-based ETC at 1,200 toll plazas have raised average toll revenue 13% YoY.

National Monetisation Pipeline: The NMP (August 2021, ₹6 lakh crore, FY22-25) targets brownfield asset monetisation. Roads contribute ₹1.6 lakh crore (TOT bundles 1-7 raised ₹35,000 crore, March 2026; InvIT issuances by NHAI raised ₹17,000 crore). NHIT (NHAI InvIT) is a benchmark instrument enabling foreign pension funds (CDPQ, OTPP) to invest. The model preserves public ownership and recycles capital for greenfield construction.

Challenges: Cost over-runs of 24% (CAG Report 2023 on NHAI), land-acquisition delays under LARR 2013, fragmented BOT-HAM-EPC payment claims (₹85,000 crore arbitration pending), and ESG-aligned green-highway financing under the Bharatmala Green Corridor remain to be operationalised.

Way forward:

MoRTH should notify Bharatmala Phase-II (₹10 lakh crore over FY26-31) by Q2 FY27, scale TOT 4.0 with sovereign green bonds, and operationalise the Logistics Data Bank under National Logistics Policy 2022.