Highways Infrastructure Trust secures R 8,000 crore debt finance

This funding will be used for the TOT (Toll, Operate and Transfer) functioning of a 251 km long stretch on the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor of NH-44 in Telangana and 12 other road projects

New Delhi: Highways Infrastructure Trust (HIT), a SEBI-registered infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), announced on Wednesday that it has secured ₹8,250 crore in debt financing, making it one of the largest such debt arrangements.

HIT’s portfolio includes 16 project stretches and covers around 4,640 lane km across nine states, HIT said in a statement (Photo for representation)

This funding will be used for the TOT (Toll, Operate and Transfer) functioning of a 251 km long stretch on the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor of NH-44 in Telangana and 12 other road projects of which 11 are national highway hybrid annuity mode (HAM) assets and one state highway BOT (build, operate, transfer) project totalling to 3,800 km across Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These 12 assets were formerly with PNC infratech.

“This financing, structured as a rupee-term loan with a loan tenure of up to 17 years, has been supported by Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), IndusInd Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), and State Bank of India (SBI). HIT’s portfolio includes 16 project stretches and covers around 4,640 lane km across nine states,” HIT said in a statement.

Gaurav Chandna, executive director and joint CEO of HIT, said, “We are pleased to announce the successful tie-up of rupee term loan facilities amounting to ₹8,250 crore. The overwhelming response from banks and NBFCs, including participation from all our existing lenders and the addition of three new financial partners, is a testament to the strong confidence in our business model and growth strategy. This milestone underscores the trust our financial partners and stakeholders have placed in us. The continued support from our lending partners strengthens our ability to pursue strategic opportunities, enhance our portfolio, and drive sustainable long-term growth. We remain committed to honouring this confidence through disciplined execution and value creation.”

The National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT), an investment trust of the National Highway Authority of India is operational in line with the national monetisation plan along with other such private entities in this sector.

NHIT is being used by the NHAI to shed high-interest loans from commercial banks for highway operations and raise money from the market in line with the national monetisation plan. In March 2024, NHIT had raised a debt of around ₹ 9,000 crore.