The highway tolls will be raised by more than 10% across the country, the National Highway Authority of India has issued a notification for the same. Tolls are tied to the Wholesale Price Index of inflation and are adjusted in response to changes in that index.
The requirements of the NH Fee (Determination of Rating and Collection) Rules, 2008 govern the revision of highway toll rates. In FY23, the average increase in toll prices across India was 10.5%. The price revision for toll charges, on the other hand, varies across the country.
In India, there are currently 599 national highways. The Mumbai-Pune motorway will see the greatest hike in toll fees, up 18%. To use the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, cars will now have to pay Rs 50 more, that is Rs 320, which was previously Rs. 270.
The expressway’s tolls are revised cumulatively every three years. Driving four-wheelers on national highways is likely to become 14% more expensive, amounting to a Rs 5 per day increase. This will result in a monthly increase of Rs 1,150.
Meanwhile, the NHAI would boost tolls on the Bhopal-Jabalpur, Obaidullah Gunj-Nagpur, and Bhopal-Raisen-Sagar highways by 2-5 percent. According to a report by Crisil, toll collections are likely to increase by 16-18% in FY23. Collections are likely to fall to 9-11 percent in FY24.
In FY24, traffic growth is expected to moderate to 4-6 percent. However, the rating agency expects this to remain higher than the 2-3% CAGR over the previous three years.
Traffic growth is connected to theGDP growth. GDP growth is predicted to drop to 7% in FY23 and then fall to 6% in FY24. The research by Crisil was based on 49 road toll assets located in 14 states.
According to Crisil, various reasons have hampered India’s traffic growth since 2018, including installing GST, modifying axle load norms for commercial trucks, limitations connected to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the resulting supply chain disruption.
Toll costs are revised based on various criteria, including additional services supplied by toll booths, vehicle density, and political influence.
