NHAI to tap capital market this month

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will approach the capital market this month to raise funds for building roads, Nitin Gadkari, roads transport and highways minister, has said. "This month, I will be approaching the capital market to raise funds for road projects... Our toll income is very good and NHAI's rating is AAA... I am 100% sure that we will get a good response," he said at an event here on Thursday.

Gadkari said insurance funds and pension funds have shown interest in investing in India's road projects because there is economic viability.

Gadkari said NHAI's toll income will more than triple in next three years to over ₹1.40 lakh annually.


Improving state transport
The minister said there is a need to eliminate manual ticket collection on buses to improve the financial viability of state transport corporations and move to a card or QR code-based collection system to plug leakages. He highlighted that the public transport sector was not in a good financial position.