The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has firmed up its asset monetisation strategy for the next three years, in alignment with its mop-up target of Rs 4.42 lakh crore for the next five years.
“We will achieve the government’s asset monetisation plan for the next five years,” NHAI’s Member (Finance) N R V V M K Rajendra Kumar said at an event to mark the listing of the units of Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT) after its initial public offer.
RIIT is a public InvIT sponsored by NHAI. Kumar is its Managing Director.
The government’s second National Monetisation Pipeline has an overall target of Rs 16.32 lakh crore by 2029-30 of which the share of the highways sector is 26%. The funding by the private sector in Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects has been made part of the target.
Rs 6,000 crore raised through IPO
Through IPO, RIIT has raised Rs 6,000 crore and these funds will be used to finance acquisition of five operational national highway assets of Rs 260 km length in the states of Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Total concession value of these assets is Rs 9,500 crore. The remaining Rs 3500 crore would come from bank loans.
In the equity issue, Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and SBI Life Insurance have participated as strategic investors, subscribing to units worth Rs 1,260 crore. In addition, anchor investors, including leading insurance companies, pension funds, provident funds and financial institutions have put in Rs 1,728 crore.
The remaining portion of the issue, amounting to about Rs 2,100 crore, was offered to public investors. The retail portion witnessed an overwhelming response, being oversubscribed nearly 14 times. Unlike other highway InvITs that are anchored by global funds as strategic investors, an overwhelming portion of the units on offer by RIIT have been picked by local investors.
RIIT makes a strong debut on the exchanges
The units of RIIT made a strong debut on the exchanges, closing 6% higher than the issue price of Rs 100.
“This will strengthen our vision to provide opportunities for all road users to become road owners. This milestone demonstrates our nation’s ability to mobilise its own resources to build world-class National Highways and infrastructure,” Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said.
RIIT will get the rights to collect toll on the five highways that it would acquire in the first round for 15 years. Gadkari said that the next target is to monetise 1500 km of highways over the next three years.
The minister said that the ministry has assets worth Rs 5 lakh crore that can be monetised at a short notice but the spending capacity is much lower due to slower pace of awarding. At present there are only Rs 3.5 lakh crore of projects available.
“For awarding resources is not a problem, getting clearances is,” Gadkari added. He said now before awarding it is ensured that 90% of the land is available and environment and forest clearance, railway approvals and utility shifting has been done to address the problem of delay in execution of projects.
The minister also said that the barrier-free tolling would be rolled out countrywise by the end of 2026. “Bids for 10 toll plazas have been awarded of which six are already under construction. Tenders for 105 other plazas to enable Multi Lane Free Flow (MLFF) have been floated,” he added.