NHAI prepays debt of Rs 15,700 crore; saves on Rs 1000 crore interest

The National Highways Authority of India prepaid a debt of Rs 15,700 crore from the monetisation proceeds of 2023-24, helping it save Rs 1000 crore on interest. With this pre-payment, the outstanding debt liability of NHAI has come down to around Rs 3,20,000 crore.

“In a major step to reduce its overall debt liability, NHAI achieved a significant financial milestone with the successful pre-payment of a bank loan amounting to Rs 15,700 crore,” NHAI said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“Retiring this debt ahead of schedule will result in an estimated interest savings of around Rs 1,000 crore,” it added.


Further, during 2024-25, NHAI intends to monetize projects worth Rs 15,000 – 20,000 crore through infrastructure investment trust (InvIT).

As per the government directive, InvIT monetization proceeds are to be exclusively used for NHAI debt repayment. “With this, the overall debt liability of NHAI is expected to further reduce to around Rs 3,00,000 crore at the end of fiscal 2025,” NHAI said.

According to the statement, NHAI has been actively engaging with the lender banks to reduce the interest rates as a part of the robust debt payment plan and using InvIT monetization proceeds.

“As a result, banks have reduced their interest rate from 8%-8.1% to 7.58%-7.59%,” it said, adding bank loans where interest rates could not be reduced have been repaid.

“The savings realized from this debt reduction will play a pivotal role in advancing ongoing and future national highway projects,” NHAI said, adding it remains steadfast in its mission to enhance the efficiency of India’s national highway infrastructure.