Road InvIT AUM To Surge 30% To Rs 3.9 Lakh Crore By March 2027: Crisil Ratings

New Delhi, May 18 (KNN) Assets under management (AUM) of road sector Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) are projected to grow approximately 30 per cent to around Rs 3.9 lakh crore by March 2027 from Rs 3.0 lakh crore as of March 2026, driven by National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) asset monetisation pipeline and continued sale of hybrid annuity model (HAM) assets by road developers, according to a Crisil Ratings report.

The report noted that the road InvIT universe currently comprises 16 vehicles managing over 200 assets spanning more than 15,000 kilometres, with AUM having grown over 25 per cent annually in each of the past two fiscal years.

What Will Drive Growth

Manish Gupta, Senior Director and Deputy Chief Ratings Officer, Crisil Ratings, said, “The AUM of road InvITs is poised for ~30 per cent growth in fiscal 2027, with an addition of ~Rs 90,000 crore. While the addition will continue to be skewed towards toll road projects, its contribution to the incremental AUM will be lower than in the past at 60-62 per cent, bringing down its share in overall AUM marginally to 80-82 per cent.” 

“Annuity assets, predominantly HAM, will form the balance as road developers continue to focus on asset monetisation to maintain their balance sheet strength,” Gupta added.

Toll asset additions will largely stem from investors transferring historically acquired assets into InvIT structures and from NHAI's National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0.

HAM asset additions of Rs 33,000–35,000 crore are expected from three sources — acquisition of an announced pipeline of Rs 9,000–10,000 crore, purchase of completed assets worth Rs 10,000–12,000 crore by HAM-focused InvITs from sponsors through right-of-first-offer arrangements, and monetisation by other road developers to unlock equity capital and reduce debt dependence.

Crisil noted that good-quality assets in the sector have historically delivered equity multiples of more than 1.5 times over the past five fiscals.

Widening Investor Base and Credit Profile

While foreign investors have historically dominated equity capital in InvITs, strong asset class performance has attracted growing domestic investor interest, with several InvITs now exploring public listings to fund further AUM expansion.

Anand Kulkarni, Director at Crisil Ratings, noted, “Diversified asset pool of road InvITs, in terms of both geographies and concession types, strengthen the portfolios. Also, addition of annuity assets provides stable and predictable cash flows.” 

On leverage, Kulkarni expects the debt-to-enterprise value ratio to inch up by 100–150 basis points from the current approximately 45 per cent as AUM expands. The average debt service coverage ratio, currently at a comfortable 1.7–1.8 times, may see a marginal decline but is expected to remain strong, keeping credit risk profiles stable.

(KNN Bureau)