Highway Infrastructure Ltd is an integrated infrastructure company that builds things, collects tolls, and develops property - three businesses that feed each other. It started as a construction partnership in 1995 in Madhya Pradesh, spent decades learning how to execute government civil contracts, then used that experience to enter the toll-collection business in 2020, and listed on India’s main stock exchanges in August 2025. The recurring pattern is selective, return-conscious expansion: the company enters adjacent infrastructure opportunities only when it can use capabilities it already has, and it walks away from anything that does not meet its internal thresholds.
Business segments
Three engines at different stages - a toll-collection cash generator built on a pan-India operating model, an EPC construction backbone that feeds it with government contracts, and a real-estate arm that turns company-owned land into recurring lease income - each one using the relationships and skills of the one before.
1. Tollway Collection: the group’s cash engine
The company wins short-term contracts to collect tolls on behalf of India’s highways authority, pays a fixed sum upfront, and keeps whatever it collects above that - an asset-light model where the margin comes from running the plaza better than the next bidder.
- Paid on throughput, not on assets - it bids for toll-plaza contracts lasting 90 days to one year, pays NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) a contracted amount, and retains all collections above that sum; as of March 2026 the total value of ongoing toll contracts was Rs. 765.8 crore, with Rs. 526.1 crore still payable to NHAI.
- Technology built in-house keeps leakage low - most of the tolling systems, including ANPR-based (automatic number-plate recognition) collection, are developed internally, which gives the company control over costs and lets it expand into new regions without relying on third-party vendors.
- A national footprint is the bidding advantage - unlike many competitors who concentrate on one state or region, the company operates across India and designs its systems to work without language or social barriers, so it can bid for projects anywhere, including the Northeast.
- It walks away from bad deals - during the period it deliberately withdrew from one fee plaza in Andhra Pradesh (paying a penalty of Rs. 26.33 lakh) and handed back another in Bihar after concluding the contract was not commercially attractive, which shows the selectivity the company applies to its portfolio.
- Ancillary services add a second layer of income - at toll plazas the company provides upkeep of toilet blocks and consumables, and it offers food courts, retail shops, fuel stations, vehicle repair, parking, driver dormitories, childcare rooms, village markets for local handicrafts, and warehousing alongside the core tolling operation.
2. EPC Infrastructure: the execution backbone
Three decades of fixed-price construction for government clients - highways, bridges, housing, industrial buildings - make this the engine that built the relationships and the reputation the rest of the group runs on.
- Government is the main customer - 64.9% of the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) order book comes from public-sector clients such as NHAI, the Indore Development Authority, the Public Work Department, and various state development corporations; the remaining 35.1% is private work for developers and institutions like LIC.
- More than a hundred projects already delivered - the company has completed over 105 projects and has 30-plus ongoing, spanning affordable housing, multi-storey residential buildings, master-plan roads, industrial-area development, IT parks, water-supply systems, school buildings, bridge construction, and even E-bus charging infrastructure.
- The order book provides forward visibility - as of March 2026 the EPC order book stood at Rs. 624 crore, with Rs. 591.3 crore of balance works still to be executed, giving a clear pipeline of construction activity.
- Adjacent opportunities are chosen for fit, not fashion - the company is evaluating ropeway projects under the government’s Parvatmala Pariyojana because they draw on its EPC skills as well as its experience in operations, passenger handling, and collections, and it is also looking at HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) road projects where construction and long-term maintenance are bundled together.
3. Real Estate: the land-bank monetiser
An asset-light developer and landlord focused on mid-income housing and commercial leasing in Madhya Pradesh, turning company-owned land into saleable flats and recurring rental income from hotels and retail.
- Commercial property generates lease rent - the commercial side earns income from hospitality and commercial properties built on the company’s own land, including hotels, restaurants, and other rental assets, creating a stream of recurring, asset-backed revenue.
- Wayside amenities are the next land play - the company is actively bidding for wayside-amenity sites on controlled-access highways, where the government provides land and mandates basic facilities (washrooms, food, fuel) plus extra land for commercial monetisation; competition is described as “near to zero” because the government enforces an 80-kilometre minimum distance between such sites.
Group structure and partners
The listed company sits alongside a separately managed infrastructure investment trust that owns a large portfolio of operational road assets, backed by global private-capital sponsors.
- Highway Infrastructure Ltd is a public company listed on BSE and NSE, incorporated in Madhya Pradesh with its registered office in Indore.
- The board is led by Managing Director and Promoter Arun Kumar Jain (over 31 years in infrastructure), with Whole-Time Director and CFO Anoop Agrawal (over 22 years, with the company since 2006), and Director and CEO Riddharth Jain, who holds a Master’s in Design from the University of Pennsylvania and is the son of the Managing Director.
- A separate Infrastructure Investment Trust, originally called Highways Infrastructure Trust and rebranded to Vertis Infrastructure Trust in June 2025, is registered under SEBI regulations and focused on owning and operating road assets.
- As of June 2025 the Trust’s assets under management had grown fivefold to roughly Rs. 25,000 crore, with a portfolio of 27 operational road projects across nine Indian states covering about 8,100 lane kilometres, and it holds an AAA/Stable rating from CRISIL and India Ratings.