The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has drawn up a preliminary list of 17 highway stretches covering nearly 1,693 km for monetisation during the 2026-27 financial year, as the Centre accelerates efforts to unlock value from operational road assets and fund fresh infrastructure development.

The shortlisted highway projects are spread across Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. These assets are proposed to be monetised through the Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) and Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) routes.

Under the monetisation model, private investors are granted the rights to operate and collect toll revenue from completed highways for a fixed concession period, usually ranging from 20 to 30 years, in exchange for a substantial upfront payment to the government.

Ownership of the roads and land, however, remains with the public authority.

Officials said the latest list does not include projects earmarked for the newly proposed self-sponsored Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT), which will function as a separate monetisation platform for highway assets.

The exercise forms part of the Centre's second National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), which has set an ambitious monetisation target of Rs 16.72 lakh crore across sectors between FY2026 and FY2030. Of this, the roads sector alone accounts for Rs 4.42 lakh crore.

NHAI has steadily expanded its monetisation programme over the past few years. Between FY2023-24 and FY2025-26, the authority raised nearly Rs 85,749 crore through highway asset monetisation.