India has the second largest roads and highways system in the world totaling 4.1 million miles. More than 90% of traffic and 60% of goods move along India’s roads. India’s 12th Five-Year Plan allocated $200 billion for building roads and highways, to be funded by foreign investments and domestic loans.
Highways account for 2% of the country’s roads but carry 40% of overall traffic. Under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), flagship programs like Bharatmala Pariyojana, which absorbed earlier initiatives, including the National Highway Development Project (NHDP), focus on developing over 34,000 km of economic corridors, inter-corridors, feeder routes, and national expressways.
Overseen by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), early infrastructure milestones such as the Golden Quadrilateral (connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata) and the North-South and East-West corridors established core arterial connectivity. Today, NHAI’s focus has expanded to access-controlled greenfield expressways (such as the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway) and multi-modal logistics parks.
Today, the majority of NHDP projects are completed through the Public Private Partnerships, which are joint ventures between the government and private companies. Owned by India’s second richest man Anil Ambani, Mumbai-based Reliance Infrastructure Inc. completed eleven projects to design, build, and operate 600 miles of toll roads totaling $1.8 billion. Based in Hyderabad, KNR Constructions Ltd. is working on the four-laning of National Highway (NH) 47 in southwestern state of Kerala, a $123.7-million project. It is also managing the $32.7-million rehabilitation of NH-565 in southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh and the $52.1-million project for four-laning NH-69 in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
India vigorously encourages foreign investment by hiring private build-operate-transfer contractors and consultants. India works with 85 international contractors and consultants based in Malaysia, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S.
India’s rural roads stretch for two million miles. Due to poor infrastructure, about a third of harvests spoil before reaching the market. The country is investing $8 billion annually to improve such rural road systems. In addition, the Bharat Nirman (Build India) program privatizes rural road projects through funds from the International Development Association, a part of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Last updated: August 4th, 2026
