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India's national highway toll revenue recorded a 16% year-on-year rise during the first nine months of 2025, reaching INR 49,193 crore compared with INR 42,474 crore a year earlier. Data from ICRA Analytics shows toll-paying traffic increased by nearly 12% to 26,864 lakh transactions, supported by robust freight movement and periodic revisions in user charges. Higher traffic from heavy vehicles and increased use of electronic toll collection (ETC) contributed to the growth. The western region led collections, followed by southern and northern zones, reflecting broad-based expansion across corridors.
India's toll revenue from national highways saw a strong improvement this year, driven by sustained freight traffic and upward revisions in user fees. As per ICRA Analytics data, collections during January to September 2025 rose to INR 49,193 crore, compared to INR 42,474 crore recorded in the same period last year. The total number of toll-paying transactions also grew by about 12%, reaching 26,864 lakh from 23,920 lakh. Advertisement
ICRA noted that the growth in toll revenue outpaced vehicle volume growth mainly because of a higher share of heavy commercial vehicles, which attract higher charges, and due to routine annual fee adjustments. Madhubani Sengupta from ICRA explained that the toll network benefited from healthy throughput and consistent traffic patterns, especially across freight-intensive routes.
The western region contributed the most to national toll revenue, accounting for nearly 30% of the total, followed by southern and northern regions, which together represented around 48%. The eastern and central regions together formed the remaining 22%, showing a steady distribution compared to previous years.
Freight-heavy routes such as NH-16 (Kolkata-Chennai), NH-53 (Surat-Nagpur-Kolkata), NH-6, NH-49 in the Northeast, and NH-48 and NH-66 in the western belt continued to generate the highest share of toll income. On these stretches, commercial vehicles make up more than half of total transactions. In contrast, northern and southern regions are more passenger-centric, where cars and jeeps contribute around 65% to 70% of total traffic.
Electronic toll collection also continued to expand. Data shows that ETC transactions in 2024 stood at 32,515 lakh, up from 30,383 lakh in 2023. The value of ETC transactions increased to INR 57,940 crore in 2024, compared to INR 52,316 crore in the preceding year. The steady rise highlights the growing acceptance of FASTag and other automated payment systems across highway networks.
ICRA's report also pointed out that toll fee adjustments and increased movement of heavy vehicles such as trucks and trailers supported steady growth in collections even amid fuel-price fluctuations and mixed demand patterns in passenger transport.
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