Toll Tale Of Savings: NHAI’s Smart Moves Trim Costs By Half, Lead To Rs 2,000 Crore 'Windfall'

Last Updated:October 30, 2025, 22:21 IST

The cost of toll collection is the difference between the toll fee collected by the tolling agencies and the amount remitted to NHAI at public-funded toll plazas

The NHAI said that in FY 2023-24, total toll collected by the toll agencies amounted to Rs 27,417 crore, out of which about Rs 22,681 crore was remitted to NHAI. (Representational Image)

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has saved almost half of the toll collection cost by saving Rs 2,062 crore in 2024-25 with the help of a series of reforms, an official statement announced on Thursday.

The cost of toll collection is the difference between the toll fee collected by the tolling agencies and the amount remitted to NHAI at public-funded toll plazas.

Number Crunching

The road building authority under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said it has drastically reduced the cost of toll collection in public-funded toll plazas—from Rs 4,736 crore in FY 2023-24 to Rs 2,674 crore in FY 2024-25.

“In percentage terms, the cost of toll collection decreased from 17.27 percent in FY 2023-24 to 9.27 percent in FY 2024-25," the statement added.

Further decoding the numbers, the NHAI said that in FY 2023-24, the total toll collected by the toll agencies amounted to Rs 27,417 crore, out of which about Rs 22,681 crore was remitted to NHAI.

However, in FY 2024-25, the toll agencies collected a total of about Rs 28,823 crore as toll fees, out of which around Rs 26,149 crore was remitted to NHAI.

How NHAI Saved the Money

The savings in the cost of toll collection are a result of various initiatives taken by NHAI, including close monitoring of ongoing contracts, deletion of provision for deemed extension of three months, timely bidding, ensuring the maximum contracts for one-year duration are awarded, and short-term contracts of three months are minimised.

In addition, measures were taken to drastically reduce short-term three-month contracts, limiting only three premature termination requests during a financial year and restricting the same contractor from bidding for a toll plaza for which he has submitted the premature termination request.

Also, NHAI has been regularly engaging with the “All India User Fee Collection Federation" to address issues and challenges faced by the toll collection agencies to build confidence and increase participation in toll bids.

“Timely release of performance security (cash part) and Bank Guarantees of the toll collection agencies further enhanced their bidding capabilities resulting in higher bids amounts," the statement added.

Apart from this, to avoid any windfall gains to the toll collection agencies, a “windfall gain" clause was also introduced in the agreements, under which the contract of the toll collection agency can be terminated if the moving average of toll collection in the last 15 days is more than 40 per cent of the remittance paid to NHAI.

The move is among the NHAI’s initiatives to improve financial efficiency and ensure better returns from public-funded highways.

Nivedita Singh

Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived...Read More

Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived...

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News india Toll Tale Of Savings: NHAI’s Smart Moves Trim Costs By Half, Lead To Rs 2,000 Crore 'Windfall'

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