NHAI may expand InvIT size, to raise Rs 15,000 crore: Report

The NHAI has already begun discussions with sovereign and pension funds to sell around 85 percent of the units in the InvIT (Representative image)

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is aiming to expand the size of its proposed infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) and may raise up to Rs 15,000 crore.

The NHAI may raise Rs 15,000 crore in two rounds, The Economic Times reported.

The NHAI is looking to sell about 32 more operational road assets spanning 1,500 km, the report added.

The InvIT, which was approved by market regulator SEBI in May, is expected to hit the market in July. The trust may raise Rs 5,100 crore in the first round, with five operational road assets of about 390 km, the report said.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

Also read: Why InvITs are becoming increasingly popular among investors

An NHAI spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by The Economic Times.

The NHAI has already begun discussions with sovereign and pension funds to sell around 85 percent of the units in the InvIT, the report said.

"There is a good response from the institutional investors who are happy to make a good chunk of investment in the NHAI InvIT, hence we plan to increase the size," a source told the publication.

20 of the 32 roads, totalling 1,000 km, will be brought under the proposed private-listed InvIT in the second round, the report said.

InvITs operate as trusts, structured to own and manage infrastructure assets such as roads, ports, power plants, warehouses. The trusts give investors – individual, corporate and institutional – access to large infrastructure assets and the income generated from those.