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.
