Budget 2026-27: Road ministry outlay to remain flat in push for private capital
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.
The plan is to mobilize another ₹80,000 crore for new construction by monetizing the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) operational assets via toll-operate-transfer (ToT), infrastructure investment trusts (InvIT), and securitization of upcoming assets, added the officials, on the condition of anonymity. The Centre provided capital expenditure (capex) of ₹2.72 trillion (revised estimates) to the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) in 2024-25, and kept it unchanged in 2025-26.
“This may now increase only moderately or be maintained at the same level (again), according to the estimates shared by the MoRTH with the finance ministry," said the first official. Meanwhile, the NHAI's reliance on the budgetary allocation is likely to ease in 2026-27, as the state-owned highway builder is set to float another InvIT—Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT) to service its debt.
RIIT has received the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval, with its first public issuance expected in February. The NHAI’s first InvIT—National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT)—had mobilized ₹46,000 crore across four fundraising rounds starting in 2020.
As the highway builder deploys InvIT proceeds exclusively for debt repayment, its outstanding debt has declined from a peak of ₹3.5 trillion in 2021-22 to ₹2.39 trillion by September 2025. The move also coincides with the government's
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