NHAI targets ₹5,000-cr funds via InvIT

The Central government has planned to launch the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) of NHAI. Union road transport and highways Secretary, Giridhar Aramane, informed that the government will go to market after completing the regulatory requirements. NHAI's InvIT shall be the first InvIT to be sponsored by any government or semi-government entity in the country. In 2019, the Union cabinet authorized NHAI to set up InvIT by which the road-building agency will be able to generate specialized operation and maintenance concessionaires, attract patient capital for 20-30 years and garner attention of retail domestic savings and corpus of special institutions in the infrastructure sector. The projects under the InvIT are expected to be worth around ₹5,000 crore and these are likely to be given out for a period of 30 years. An Infrastructure Investment Trust is a Collective Investment Scheme similar to a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of funds from individual and institutional investors in infrastructure projects.