New highway construction may have hit seven-year low in FY25

India's highway construction is expected to have slowed to a seven-year low of around 7,000km in FY25, as the government prioritized maintenance, strengthening projects, and complex infrastructure over rapid expansion, according to two people familiar with the matter.

- Subhash Narayan

While the ministry of road transport and highways (Morth) has set an overall construction target of 10,000-10,500km for the year, nearly 30%—or about 3,000km—will be dedicated to strengthening existing roads rather than adding fresh highway capacity.

This marks a sharp shift from recent years, when expansion took precedence. The last time capacity-augmenting projects were this low was in FY18, when total construction also fell below 10,000km.