India plans to continue its rapid expansion of national highways, targeting an addition of up to 13,000 kilometers in the fiscal year ending March 2025. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the country has nearly doubled its road construction efforts compared to the previous decade, highlighting this achievement in the ongoing general election campaign.
India is on track to continue its robust pace of road construction, with an expected addition of up to 13,000 kilometers in the fiscal year ending March 2025, marking a yearly growth of 5-8%, according to ICRA, the Indian branch of Fitch ratings agency.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, India has constructed approximately 90,000 kilometers of national highway, nearly doubling the output of the previous decade. Modi is emphasizing this growth in road infrastructure as a key accomplishment in his current general election campaign, with voting set to begin on Friday.
Capital investments in road infrastructure rose to 2.4 trillion rupees ($28.72 billion) in 2022/23, up from 510 billion rupees in 2013/14. Following a slow start last year due to heavy rainfall in some regions, road construction has picked up speed since September and is expected to maintain this momentum, ICRA reported.
“The execution pace this fiscal year will be bolstered by a solid lineup of projects, increased government spending, and a focus on completing existing projects,” ICRA noted in a statement.
Despite some delays in cabinet approvals for revised cost estimates, the government’s project award pipeline remains robust at over 45,000 km, stated Vinay Kumar, vice president and sector head of corporate ratings at ICRA.
This month, the government postponed a planned increase in road toll charges by about two months, providing temporary relief to millions of drivers, including truckers and commercial vehicle operators.
Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister for Road Transport, has set an ambitious target to construct over 35 kilometers of roads per day within the current fiscal year.
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