NHAI's Road Project Awards: A Path to Growth in FY26

A recent report from Axis Securities projects a 9-11% growth in road project awards by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for FY26. Although the current fiscal year has seen awarding activities slow down, a resurgence since November 2024 hints at a potential uptick in the coming months.

As of July 2025, both the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) have experienced delays in launching new highway projects. However, if the upward trend in awards observed in late 2024 continues, the total road length awarded is expected to stay within 8,500-9,000 km, consistent with FY25.

The construction sector saw NHAI exceed expectations in FY25, building 5,614 km of highways against a target of 5,150 km. Despite this success, FY26 sees a lower construction goal of 10,000 km, the smallest in seven years, coupled with reduced budgets and revised monetisation targets.

In the first quarter of FY26, under the National Monetisation Pipeline phase two, NHAI embarked on initiatives to generate Rs 10 lakh crore, with the road sector aiming for Rs 3.5 lakh crore. June 2025 marked the release of NHAI's inaugural Asset Monetisation Strategy Document, introducing funding avenues via Toll-Operate-Transfer models, Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), and securitisation, all part of an effort to fuel infrastructure growth without burdening government resources.

(With inputs from agencies.)