Economic activity pickup to help India record all time high toll collection of Rs1 trillion in FY27

Internal government projections seen by Mint suggest a 25% jump in revenue to ₹75,000 crore in FY26, up from ₹61,408 crore in FY25. This trajectory is underpinned by a resilient 7.4% GDP growth forecast and a 15% year-on-year rise in traffic volume recorded through December.

Beyond organic traffic growth, the government is banking on a technological overhaul. The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) plans to roll out a satellite-based Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) system nationwide by late 2026, which is expected to plug leakages and add at least ₹6,000 crore to the annual collections.

The surge in collections comes as the Union government shifts back to the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, aiming to use predictable cash flows to reduce the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) reliance on the federal budget and recycle capital into new infrastructure projects.

The data supports this positive outlook. The FASTag user base has reached 8 crore, with a 75-25% split between private and commercial users. Toll revenue through the existing FASTag system surged over 15% year-on-year to exceed ₹50,000 crore in the first three quarters of FY26.

Infrastructure push

This growth occurs against a backdrop of steady macroeconomic performance. India’s GDP growth averaged 8% in the first half of the current fiscal and is projected at 7.4% for FY26, per National Statistics Office (NSO) estimates.

“With the number of toll plazas expected to rise by another 200 or 300 on 10,000 or 12,000 km of new highways and expressways becoming operational next year, the toll collection is expected to shoot up to well above ₹1 trillion in FY27," said one of the two government officials cited above, requesting anonymity.

The ministry notes that the length of operational access-controlled National High Speed Corridors (HSCs) and expressways has skyrocketed by 3,182%—from a mere 93 km in 2014 to 3,052 km today. This network is envisioned to reach 50,000 km over the next decade. As of June 2025, 1,087 toll plazas are operational, with 387 managed by private operators and 700 by the government.

Rising toll collections are broadly consistent with higher freight and passenger movement, and align with other high-frequency indicators such as e-way bill generation, said Rishi Shah, partner and economic advisory services leader, Grant Thornton Bharat. “While part of the increase reflects network expansion and tariff revisions, sustained growth in toll traffic points to resilient logistics activity and steady underlying economic momentum," he said.

However, some analysts urge caution regarding the FY27 timeline. “The toll collections of national highways are expected to reach around ₹1 trillion over the medium term...though the possibility of it achieving in FY2027 itself looks low," said Suprio Banerjee, vice president and co-group head, corporate ratings at Icra Ltd.

“Our estimates suggest that the toll collections of national highways are expected to reach around ₹0.70 trillion in FY2026 compared to ₹0.61 trillion in FY2025," Banerjee added.

The push for higher revenue is also a push for fiscal discipline. Mint on Monday reported the Centre’s plan to bid out 5,000 km of highway projects worth ₹75,000 crore under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll model, a format largely dormant since 2014.

The rise in toll revenues possibly reflects a maturing infrastructure financing model, noted Shah. “For the government, this improves the financial sustainability of highway assets, strengthens NHAI’s cash flows, and reduces reliance on budgetary support," he added.