Toll revenues recover gradually as travel restrictions are eased
MUMBAI: Toll collections on India’s highways have picked up in June after a nearly threemonth slump as the government eased restrictions on movement of goods across states.
Industry experts estimate that highway traffic and toll revenues have recovered to 70-75% of pre-Covid-19 levels as India emerges from one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns.
“We’re seeing a nearly 75% return of normal traffic numbers on our assets,” a leading infrastructure developer said on condition of anonymity. “Toll revenues depend on the kind of traffic combinations, passenger or commercial traffic. The roads where we see more commercial traffic, revenues have picked up faster. Passenger numbers are still a fraction of what they used to be before the lockdown.”
Sealing of inter-state borders and even districts in some states to stem the spread of the virus had severely curtailed goods movement during the lockdown, leading to dwindling toll collections for road developers. The lifting of nearly all restrictions on goods movement within the country has boosted toll collections, although an improvement in India’s external trade will be key for a full recovery.
“There is an uptick on freight movement on highways,” said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, director and practice leadertransport and logistics, Crisil Infrastructure Advisory. “Domestic freight movement accounted for the bulk of highway traffic, so that part is recovering well. Passenger traffic has fully washed out; even with restrictions on passenger movement being relaxed, we’re not seeing this pick-up yet.”
While consolidated traffic or toll revenue numbers aren’t available for the year to March, government and private road operators generated about ₹24,400 crore in toll revenues in the previous fiscal. Analysts estimate it had risen to nearly ₹25,300 crore in FY20.
A report by credit ratings agency Crisil in early May estimated that the private sector would lose toll revenue of ₹3,450-3,700 crore between March and June, assuming a 90% revenue loss in April, 60-75% in May and 30-40% for June.