₹10 Lakh-Crore Plan to Quadruple India’s Highways in Two Years, Says Gadkari

Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari says Indians will “see a totally new picture of our roads within the next two years.” In an exclusive interview with Fortune India published on 13 May 2025, he highlights a multi-pronged strategy: rapid highway widening, greener transport corridors and aggressive adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Speaking days earlier at the India Infrastructure Forum, the minister detailed the flagship step—upgrading 25,000-30,000 km of existing two-lane highways to four-lane standards. The conversion, pegged at ₹8-10 lakh crore, will be financed largely through the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) model to tap domestic investors. Gadkari’s target is to deliver road projects worth ₹5-6 lakh crore every year.

The minister also stressed that India’s automobile industry has jumped from seventh to third globally and aims to top the world within five years by focusing on electric and hydrogen mobility. Clean “green highways” and revised build-operate-transfer norms—in which the government collects tolls for 15 years while contractors maintain the roads—round out the push. Together, he believes, these measures will transform both logistics efficiency and economic competitiveness by 2027.