After suspending fresh borrowings by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for two years, the Centre is now looking to prepay some of its ₹3.4 trillion debt, two people aware of the plan said.
The Centre may soon begin talks with NHAI's long-term bond holders for the prepayment, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The move would allow NHAI to deploy more capital for strengthening the highway network, and bring down interest payments, which are taking up a big chunk of the government's annual budget allocations.
"Prepayment of NHAI bonds is among the options being considered for reducing highway developer's debt," the first of the two persons cited above said. "However, this will depend on investors' willingness to forgo high interest-bearing bonds.
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