New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has received approval from market regulator SEBI to launch Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT) as a public Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), strengthening the government’s push to monetise operational road assets and widen investor participation in infrastructure financing.
The public InvIT is aimed at unlocking long-term value from national highway assets while creating a stable, yield-generating investment product, with a particular focus on retail and domestic investors. The move is expected to complement NHAI’s broader asset recycling and monetisation programme, which seeks to fund new highway construction without overburdening public finances.
To operationalise the platform, NHAI has already set up Raajmarg Infra Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (RIIMPL) as the investment manager for RIIT. The manager is backed by equity participation from a consortium of leading banks and financial institutions, including SBI, PNB, NaBFID, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank and Bajaj Finserv Ventures. NHAI Member (Finance) NRVVMK Rajendra Kumar will serve as managing director and CEO (additional charge) of the investment manager.
NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav said the SEBI approval marks a “significant milestone” in expanding public participation in India’s highway growth story, adding that the InvIT structure would help align long-term capital with infrastructure development while strengthening the national highway network.
With RIIT, NHAI is expected to tap domestic savings for infrastructure funding, reduce reliance on budgetary support and recycling capital into new road projects. The approval also signals growing regulatory comfort with InvITs as a mainstream financing vehicle for infrastructure, particularly in roads, power and transmission assets.
The launch of RIIT comes at a time when the government is intensifying efforts to attract private and retail capital into infrastructure, positioning InvITs as a key instrument to bridge India’s long-term funding gap in highways and other core s ectors.