Road infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) are set for another year of rapid expansion, with assets under management (AUM) projected to rise around 30% to nearly ₹3.9 lakh crore by March 2027, driven by an acceleration in highway asset monetisation by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and private road developers, Crisil Ratings said on Thursday.

The ratings agency said the sector, which currently comprises 16 InvITs with more than 200 assets spanning over 15,000 km, has already clocked over 25% annual AUM growth during the past two fiscals. The asset base stood at nearly ₹3 lakh crore as of March 2026.

Crisil expects incremental AUM addition of about ₹90,000 crore in FY27, led largely by toll-road acquisitions and monetisation of hybrid annuity model (HAM) projects as developers seek to unlock capital and strengthen balance sheets.

Earlier, CRISIL claimed that execution bottlenecks continue to weigh on India’s highway construction pipeline, with nearly 60% of under-construction HAM projects witnessing average delays of 11 months.

Toll roads continue to dominate asset mix

Toll-road assets currently account for nearly 85% of total road InvIT AUM, benefiting from rising traffic volumes and inflation-linked toll hikes that offer predictable cash flows.

“The AUM of road InvITs is poised for ~30% growth in fiscal 2027, with an addition of roughly ₹90,000 crore,” said Manish Gupta, Senior Director and Deputy Chief Ratings Officer, Crisil Ratings.

While toll projects will continue to dominate fresh additions, their contribution to incremental AUM is expected to moderate to 60-62% from higher levels seen earlier, resulting in their share in overall AUM easing marginally to 80-82%, the report noted.

A substantial part of the upcoming toll asset additions is expected to come from NHAI’s National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0 and investors transferring previously acquired toll assets into InvIT structures.

HAM monetisation gathers pace

Crisil estimates HAM asset additions at ₹33,000-35,000 crore in FY27, supported by announced acquisition pipelines, sponsor-led right-of-first-offer (ROFO) transactions and monetisation by developers seeking to recycle equity capital.

The agency said good-quality road assets have generated equity multiples exceeding 1.5 times over the past five fiscals, strengthening investor appetite for the asset class.

According to Anand Kulkarni, Director, Crisil Ratings, increasing diversification across geographies and concession types is improving portfolio resilience while annuity assets are providing more stable cash flows.

The report, however, cautioned that leverage levels are likely to inch up, with debt-to-enterprise value ratios expected to rise by 100-150 basis points from the current 45%. Even so, debt service coverage ratios are projected to remain comfortable at 1.7-1.8 times, supporting stable credit profiles for road InvITs.