IRB Infrastructure Trust secures UP highway project for ₹9,270 crore

IRB Infrastructure Trust, the private infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) sponsored by IRB Infrastructure Developers, has received the Letter of Award (LoA) from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for a national highway project in Uttar Pradesh worth ₹9,270 crore.

 

The toll-operate-transfer-17 (TOT-17) bundle cove ₹366 kilometres along the Lucknow–Ayodhya–Gorakhpur corridor on National Highway 27 and a section of the Lucknow–Varanasi corridor on National Highway 731. The infrastructure investment trust has secured a revenue-linked concession period of 20 years, during which it will manage tolling, operations, and maintenance.

 

Virendra Mhaiskar, chairperson and managing director, IRB Infrastructure Developers, said, “TOT-17 is a pivotal accomplishment for us, given the importance of this religious tourism corridor. The outcome underscores the growing confidence of long-term private capital in India’s national highway monetisation framework. It strengthens our platform and enables us to move rapidly towards the ₹1 trillion asset portfolio mark.”

 

Following the addition of the TOT-17 project, toll revenue for the IRB Group’s portfolio is expected to rise significantly, while the group’s asset base will surpass ₹90,000 crore, up from over ₹80,000 crore at present.

 

With TOT-17 in its portfolio, the group’s market share in the TOT segment has now increased to 42 per cent, and its operations and maintenance (O&M) order book is projected to grow by around 20 per cent.

 

With the new project, the group’s portfolio—across its private and public InvITs—will comprise 27 highway projects, including 18 build-operate-transfer (BOT), 5 toll-operate-transfer, and 4 hybrid annuity model (HAM) projects.

 

For NHAI, it is expected to generate ₹35,000–40,000 crore in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26) through asset monetisation via TOT bundles and its InvIT, according to a report by ratings agency Icra.

 

Since FY19, NHAI has largely relied on TOT and InvIT mechanisms for monetisation. It has raised ₹92,633 crore through these routes up to FY25, with TOT contributing 53 per cent of the total.