Highways Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) and Tata Motors Ltd secured an early win in emission testing rules for light commercial vehicles, even as they oppose Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.’s demand for relief for small cars under the separate fuel-efficiency norms.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : French concessions and construction company Vinci SA is nearing a $2 billion deal for Indian road assets owned by Australian asset manager Macquarie Group, paving the way for its return to the country after 11 years, two people aware of the matter told Mint. Macquarie launched the sale of its highway assets housed under Safeway Concessions Pvt.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI: India has more than halved the benchmark prices of public electric vehicle (EV) chargers and enhanced their charging capacity, in a move aimed at expanding green mobility and enabling longer driving ranges across the country, two people aware of the matter said. EV charging point operators said that this sharp reduction in the benchmark cost could also lower subsidy claims.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Chennai: The availability of fast-chargers along India’s major highways surged last year as the government and companies ramped up charging infrastructure amid growing electric vehicle (EV) penetration in the country. The number of public chargers along key routes soared 40-90% in 2025, according to data analytics platform ExpWithEVs shared with Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : Carmakers are staring at a compliance window of less than 15 months to start getting close to stringent upcoming emission targets that are expected to come into effect from April 2027. With the Centre not yet notifying the third iteration of the corporate average fuel efficiency or CAFE-III norms—CAFE-I and CAFE-II were notified 24 months in advance—carmakers are feeling the pressure to prepare their fleet and powertrain plans to deliver the largest mandatory emissions cut over any five-year period.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India is building highways at a record pace, but safer roads have not followed automatically. With over 4.6 lakh road accidents and more than 1.6 lakh deaths every year, road crashes remain among the leading causes of death for young Indians, imposing a heavy human and economic toll.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : Motorists with pending e-challans or unpaid toll dues may lose access to highways under proposed changes to motor vehicle legislation that the Centre is likely to announce during the budget session of Parliament, according to two government officials close to the discussions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Ahead of Budget 2026, markets are positioning for continued heavy public capex in roads, railways, and energy, with clear sector-specific triggers and a strong thematic bid in related stocks.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s national highway toll collections are projected to breach the landmark ₹1 trillion mark in FY27, a surge fuelled by an aggressive expansion of high-speed corridors and a fundamental shift in how the country charges for road use. Internal government projections seen by Mint suggest a 25% jump in revenue to ₹75,000 crore in FY26, up from ₹61,408 crore in FY25.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Public fury over India’s crumbling roads is no longer white noise; it’s a national reckoning. With nearly 35% of rural roads and 25% of urban roads in need of urgent repair, and 177,177 lives lost to road accidents in 2024, the outrage is justified.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Indian government plans to bid out half of the national highway projects planned for fiscal 2027–a spending of Rs75,000 crore on 5,000 km–under a build-operate-transfer (BoT) toll model involving private road developers after a long break since 2014, said three government officials aware of the new plan.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. More than a decade ago, India’s market regulator introduced infrastructure investment trusts, or InvITs, to channel public capital into infrastructure, and further eased rules in the past two years. Still, valuation and liquidity concerns keep these instruments overwhelmingly private. Only six of India’s 29 registered InvITs are publicly listed, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : The Centre may maintain the road ministry’s allocation at nearly the same level as ₹2.72 trillion in 2025-26 in the Union Budget 2026-27, aiming to shift focus towards attracting private investment, even amid slowing highway construction, according to two officials close to the discussions.

₹20,000 crore that have slowed highway development in the country.The pre-conciliation committee, set up by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), will attempt to resolve disputes valued under ₹5 crore between highway contractors and government authorities before they snowball into prolonged legal battles, according to two government officials aware of the development.The development assumes significance given that these small-value disputes account for a fifth of the nearly ₹1 trillion legal claims in road and highway construction that the government has been party to over the past decade. Also, there are documented cases of sub- ₹1 crore road payment disputes where contractors had to wait for 6-7 years for resolution.

Air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) continues to dominate headlines this winter, highlighting the absence of any long-term strategy to deal with a deadly subject that is affecting millions of lives in and around India’s capital. Of growing concern is the fact that most other urban areas in India beyond the NCR are also generating increasing levels of air pollution, with the number of ‘good’ air quality days trending towards zero.

EV users as well as technical and maintenance support for commercial fleets,” said the first official.The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is examining changes to its guidelines for way-side amenities (WSAs) on expressways to formally include EV-focused infrastructure, including rapid diagnostics, minor repairs, battery support, towing and real-time assistance through integrated control centres, the second official said, adding that the under-construction 1,300-km Delhi–Mumbai Expressway is likely to be the first long-distance corridor where the model could be rolled out, providing an end-to-end EV-supportive route between two major metropolitan regions.“The idea is to move beyond charging points and create a full ecosystem that supports EV users on highways, similar to how air traffic control and ground handling work together in aviation,” said the first official. “Control and command centres can coordinate roadside assistance, track vehicle issues, manage response times and offer confidence to EV users undertaking intercity travel.”Queries emailed to MoRTH, National Highways Authority of India, and EV makers Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai, Kia, and JSW MG on 31 December remained unanswered.Since the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is an access-controlled expressway, a commuter expects the EV charging infrastructure along the route for convenience, said Ashish Modani, senior vice-president and group head, Icra.

₹12 trillion in FY27, according to two people aware of the matter. The move signals that public investment will continue to play a central role in supporting growth as private capex remains uneven and global uncertainty persists.The proposal reflects the government's continued reliance on infrastructure spending to support domestic demand amid geopolitical risks, trade uncertainty and volatile financial conditions that have kept private investors cautious.The planned increase assumes the government will close the current financial year without fiscal slippage despite sharp cuts in goods and services tax (GST) and income tax rates, aided by savings on the revenue account and improved fund utilization by implementing agencies, one of the people cited above said.In FY26, the Centre allocated ₹11.21 trillion for capital expenditure, marking a 10% jump over the previous year’s revised estimates, along with an additional ₹3.9 trillion as grants to states for their own capital spending.

₹25,000 crore safety net, as the Union Budget for FY26 could unveil a risk guarantee fund designed to ease financing bottlenecks and attract capital to stalled projects. The move comes amid rising project delays, cost overruns, and higher borrowing costs that have long constrained investment flows into the sector.Modelled on credit guarantee schemes for small businesses, the fund, likely managed by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC), would underwrite development risks for infrastructure projects, allowing banks and financial institutions to lend on easier terms, said two government officials aware of the development.

The ministry of road transport and highways has tweaked cab aggregator guidelines to ban advance tipping—a feature that allowed passengers to offer a tip upfront while booking a ride. What does this mean for the companies bracing for short-term friction, and how will incentive redesign to offset the long-term impact? Mint explains.Queries sent to Uber, Ola, Rapido and Namma Yatri following the 26 December notification did not elicit a response until press time.Advance tipping refers to a feature on ride-hailing apps that allows passengers to add a tip at the time of booking, before a ride is accepted or completed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]. India’s infrastructure sector is at an inflection point.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India is laying the groundwork for an ambitious push into autonomous vehicles while also supporting the rising demand for electric vehicles in the country.