NHAI’s road orders for current fiscal year are slipping into the slow lane

The slow pace of ordering in the first six months of FY20 has raised doubts over National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) ability to achieve its target for the full year.

NHAI’s maiden investor meet held about a fortnight ago reiterated the targeted 6,000km of orders in FY20. To be sure, this looks to be a tall order given that until end-September, only about 600km of orders were awarded. A report by HDFC Securities Ltd estimates ordering of only 4,500km in FY20. Others, such as Antique Stock Broking Ltd and BOB Capital Markets Ltd have also scaled down estimates to 4,500-5,000km.

Developers cite high land cost, slow acquisition of land because of legal hurdles and funding constraints as reasons for the delay.