By Manoj Kumar
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will increase road tolls across the country by 3% to 5% from Monday, officials said, after suspending the annual increase in April due to the country’s general election.
Toll rates in India are revised annually based on inflation and highway operators have published notices in local newspapers announcing hikes of 3-5% at nearly 1,100 toll plazas starting Monday .
“With the election process over, the revision of toll rates, which was suspended during the elections, would come into effect on June 3,” a senior official of the National Highways Authority of India told Reuters.
The official said the increase in tolls and taxes on petroleum products helped finance the expansion of national roads, but opposition parties and many motorists criticize the annual increase in tariffs, saying they increase costs of transporting essential goods and weigh on commuters.
Large operators like IRB Infrastructure Developers and Ashok Buildcon Ltd will benefit from the toll increases.
India has invested billions of dollars over the past decade to expand national highways, with a total length of about 146,000 kilometers, the world’s second-largest road network.
Tolls collected jumped to more than 540 billion rupees ($6.5 billion) in the 2022/23 financial year from 252 billion in 2018/19, helped by an increase in road traffic as well as the increase in the number of toll plazas and fees.
India’s general election concluded on Saturday with the alliance led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expected to win a large majority, according to televised exit polls.
($1 = 83.4240 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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