India plans $125 billion push to boost high-speed road network

The country’s highway network is undergoing an upgrade led by the state-run National Highways Authority of India. Bloomberg

India plans to expand its high-speed road network fivefold within a decade, investing Rs 11 trillion ($125 billion) to modernize infrastructure and slash logistics costs, people familiar with the matter said.

The country will add 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) of access-controlled roads that allow motorists to travel at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, offering faster, safer and more efficient connectivity than conventional highways, said the people, who asked not to be identified citing rules.

Roughly 40% of the proposed network is already under construction and slated for completion before 2030, while work on the remaining corridors is expected to begin by 2028 and wrap up by 2033, the people said.

India’s push mirrors efforts by other major economies to overhaul transport infrastructure and reduce logistics cost. China has built more than 180,000 kilometers of expressways since the 1990s, while the US maintains over 75,000 kilometers of interstate highways.

As of March this year, India’s national highway network covered more than 146,000 kilometers, but only 4,500 kilometers meet high-speed standards, the people said.

Although India’s expressway plan is relatively small in scale, it stands out for its ambitious timeline and reliance on a hybrid financing model to attract private capital.

Private Investments

Projects offering returns of 15% or more will be bid out under the build-operate-transfer, or BOT, model, allowing private firms to recover costs through tolls, the people said. Those with lower projected returns will follow the Hybrid Annuity Model, under which the government covers 40% of construction costs upfront, they said.

Most of the projects in various stages of construction are under the hybrid annuity model, but the government now hopes to see more private sector participation for the rest, the people said. Private interest in India’s road sector has been tepid in recent years.

Ministry for Road Transport and Highways and the government’s Press Information Bureau didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments.

The country’s highway network is undergoing an upgrade led by the state-run National Highways Authority of India, which spent a record Rs 2.5 trillion on construction in the fiscal year ended March, up 21% from a year ago.

For the year ending March 2026, the government has increased the budgeted allocation to 2.9 trillion rupees for roads and highways.

Although interest in India’s roads sector has been uneven, the broader infrastructure space is drawing strong investor attention.

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., Blackstone Inc., Macquarie Group Ltd., and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have all committed capital, while the Adani Group has announced plans to invest $18.4 billion across infrastructure, including roads.

The country could attract hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment over the next three years, driven by policy support, rising demand, and the scale of planned projects, according to Deloitte India estimates.