The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has successfully saved more than Rs 20 billion through systemic reforms in toll collection in 2024-25. Reforms include streamlining bidding processes, eliminating short-term three-month contracts, and discontinuing provisions that led to windfall gains for toll agencies.
In 2023-24, NHAI paid agencies about 17.3 per cent of toll revenue as collection charges compared to 9.3 per cent in 2024-25. Tolling costs dropped from Rs 47.36 billion in 2023-24 to Rs 26.74 billion in 2024-25. These savings resulted from tighter contract management, such as only allowing one-year contracts, limiting premature terminations, and removing the deemed extension clause to ensure fairness.
Additionally, the introduction of the “windfall gain” clause allowed NHAI to terminate contracts where toll collection exceeded 40 per cent of remittance over 15 days, preventing excessive profits by agencies. These measures have increased transparency and efficiency in toll operations.