Highway toll collection may fall by 17% if the nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus is extended by a fortnight, ratings agency CRISIL said on Wednesday.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had stopped collecting toll till April 20 after the government imposed the lockdown on March 25 and then extended it twice.
Toll collection has restarted since, but there is unlikely to be a V-shaped revival in traffic after the lockdown ends – probably – on May 17. There will only be a gradual return to normalcy.
Toll collections and remittances from roads will fall a sharp 13% assuming there is only a 57-day lockdown (from March 22 to May 17). That decline will be an even sharper 17% if the lockdown is extended by another two weeks.
