As per ICRA, road construction is estimated to drop to a five-year low of 25-26 km per day in 2025-26. The decline is attributed to lower execution due to extended monsoon periods and a decline in project awarding over the past two years. India is likely to achieve an execution of over 9,000 km of roads in 2025-26 or 25-26 km per day, which is a significant slowdown. This will be on top of a 14 per cent decline in execution in 2024-25.
In 2025-26, the project awards will go up to 9,000-9,500 km supported by an expected improvement in the latter half of the year following a recent ministry directive which mandates that projects can only be awarded after securing 90 per cent right-of-way, forest clearances, and necessary general agreement drawing (GAD) approvals for bridges.