India has an extensive Road & Highway network spanning 3.3 Million Kilometres. They carry about 61% of the freight and 85% of the passenger traffic. All the highways and expressways together constitute about 66,000 kilometers (only 2% of all roads), whereas they carry 40% of the road traffic. Road & Highway development is recognized as essential to sustain India’s economic growth. It is a priority sector and the ongoing focus on the highway infrastructure development is targeted to projected annual growth of 12-15% for passenger traffic and 15-18% for cargo traffic.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and similarly other state bodies are encouraging private sector bodies to undertake highway development program through the PPP model, either on an annuity basis or lump sum basis. SIPL sees this as an opportunity to diversify into the development of Roads and Highways sector together with a strategic partner.