IRB Infrastructure has reportedly placed the winning bid of ₹9,200 crore to operate and collect tolls on a 333 km stretch of highways in Uttar Pradesh under the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) model. This marks the first highway monetisation deal of the current financial year and reflects renewed investor confidence in revenue-generating road assets.
The highways included in the TOT-Bundle 17 package cover routes from Lucknow to Ayodhya, Ayodhya to Gorakhpur, and Lucknow to Sultanpur. This is the first TOT monetisation after more than a year.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has increased its asset monetisation target for 2024–25 to ₹40,000 crore, up from ₹30,000 crore in the Union Budget. Last year, the agency raised ₹28,724 crore through similar exercises. This year, ₹15,000 crore each will come from TOT and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), with the remainder sourced through project-based financing.
NHAI has identified 24 more assets, spanning 1,472 km, for monetisation in the next financial year through TOT and InvIT. Bidding is already underway for five more highway bundles, covering about 845 km in total.
As part of its revised strategy, NHAI plans to auction three TOT bundles every quarter — a small, medium, and large — with potential proceeds of ₹2,000 crore, ₹5,000 crore, and ₹9,000 crore respectively.
So far, 11 bundles totaling 2,564 km have been monetised through TOT, generating nearly ₹49,000 crore. The winning bidder gains toll collection rights for 20 years, after which the assets return to NHAI. Funds raised are reinvested in new highway projects and currently account for about 10% of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ total budgetary resources.
