Rajesh Kumar has worked as a highway maintenance supervisor for the National Highways Authority of India for eleven years, overseeing a 40-kilometer stretch of the Delhi-Jaipur expressway. Last month, he learned that his section of road—along with several others—would be transferred to an infrastructure investment trust managed by private investors. His supervisor couldn't tell him whether his job would change, who would employ him next year, or if his pension contributions would continue uninterrupted.

"They tell us not to worry, that everything will be the same," Kumar said during his lunch break at a roadside dhaba. "But we've seen what happens when private companies take over. They bring their own people, or they hire us back as contractors with no benefits."

Kumar's uncertainty reflects a broader shift in how India manages its vast highway network—a shift that has significant implications for the country's infrastructure workforce. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is increasingly transferring completed toll roads to infrastructure investment trusts, or InvITs, as part of a strategy to reduce debt and free up capital for new construction projects.

According to reporting by VCCircle, the NHAI has accelerated its use of the InvIT structure, selling operating highway assets to trusts backed by global institutional investors and pension funds. The financial engineering allows the government agency to move debt-heavy completed projects off its balance sheet while collecting upfront payments that can fund new highway construction.

The Financial Restructuring

The InvIT model works like this: completed toll roads that generate steady revenue are bundled together and sold to an investment trust. That trust then sells units to institutional investors—often foreign pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies seeking stable, long-term returns. The investors collect toll revenue as their return, while the NHAI receives an immediate cash infusion.

For the government, the arrangement solves a pressing problem. India has built highways at a breakneck pace over the past decade, with the NHAI constructing an average of 37 kilometers of new roads per day in 2025, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. But that expansion came with mounting debt—the authority's liabilities exceeded ₹3.8 lakh crore (roughly $45 billion) by the end of 2025.

By transferring mature, revenue-generating assets to InvITs, the NHAI can reduce its debt burden while maintaining its ambitious construction targets. The agency has already transferred more than 1,800 kilometers of highways through this mechanism, with plans to accelerate the pace in 2026.

But financial analysts note that this approach essentially privatizes the most profitable parts of India's highway system—the well-maintained, high-traffic corridors that generate reliable toll revenue—while keeping riskier, less profitable stretches under public management.

Impact on the Workforce

The financial restructuring has created anxiety among the estimated 40,000 workers directly employed in highway maintenance and toll collection across NHAI projects. While the initial transfers have included provisions to retain existing staff, workers and their union representatives worry about longer-term job security and working conditions.

Priya Mehta, a regional organizer for the National Highways Employees Union, said her members have reported confusion about their employment status following asset transfers. "In some cases, workers were told they would become employees of the private operator. In others, they were offered contractor positions with reduced benefits," she explained. "There's no consistent policy about how workers are treated when these roads change hands."

The union has documented cases where maintenance workers saw their health insurance coverage lapse during the transition period, and where toll collectors were offered new contracts at lower wages. In one instance in Maharashtra, workers reported that the new private operator eliminated the subsidized meal program that had been standard under NHAI management.

The NHAI maintains that asset transfers include requirements to protect existing workers, but the specifics vary by transaction. Some agreements mandate that the new operator retain all existing staff for a minimum period—typically one to two years—at comparable wages. After that initial period, however, workers become subject to the private operator's employment policies.

The Maintenance Question

Beyond employment concerns, infrastructure experts have raised questions about how the InvIT model affects long-term highway maintenance and safety standards.

Under direct NHAI management, highway maintenance follows standardized protocols with regular inspections and mandated repair schedules. When roads transfer to private investment trusts, maintenance becomes the responsibility of operators focused on maximizing returns for investors.

Dr. Anil Sharma, a civil engineering professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi who studies infrastructure management, noted that the incentive structures change significantly. "An investment trust is essentially a financial vehicle designed to generate steady cash flow for investors," he said. "There's always a tension between maintaining high safety standards—which costs money—and maximizing profit margins."

He pointed to international examples where similar privatization models led to deferred maintenance, particularly on assets with long-term concession periods. "If you have a 30-year concession, there's a temptation to minimize maintenance spending in years 20 through 30, because you won't be operating the road when those deferred costs come due," Sharma explained.

The NHAI has established oversight mechanisms, including regular safety audits and maintenance standards that private operators must meet. But critics argue that enforcement has been inconsistent, particularly as the agency's attention shifts toward new construction projects.

A Broader Trend

The NHAI's embrace of InvITs reflects a broader global trend of governments using financial engineering to manage infrastructure investment. Faced with limited public budgets but growing infrastructure needs, countries from Australia to Canada have increasingly turned to private capital to fund, build, and operate public assets.

Proponents argue that bringing private sector efficiency and capital to infrastructure management benefits everyone. Private operators, they contend, have stronger incentives to maintain assets properly because their returns depend on continued toll revenue. And by freeing up public capital for new projects, the model allows governments to expand infrastructure networks faster than traditional public financing would allow.

But labor advocates and some economists counter that the approach amounts to selling off public assets at the moment they become profitable, after taxpayers have borne the construction risks and costs. They note that the toll revenue that now flows to private investors would otherwise help fund the public highway system.

"We built these roads with public money, and now when they're finally generating revenue, we're handing that revenue stream to private investors—many of them foreign," said Vikram Patel, an economist at the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability in New Delhi. "Meanwhile, the workers who maintain these roads face job insecurity and potentially worse working conditions."

What Comes Next

The NHAI has indicated it plans to continue and possibly accelerate its InvIT transfers, with several major highway corridors slated for privatization in 2026. The agency argues that the model is essential to sustaining India's infrastructure expansion while managing fiscal constraints.

For workers like Rajesh Kumar, the policy debates feel distant from daily reality. He's focused on more immediate questions: Will he still have a job in six months? Will his salary continue? Will his children's education allowance survive the transition?

"I'm not against private companies," he said. "But I wish someone would tell us clearly what's going to happen. We maintain these roads every day. We deserve to know our future."

As India continues its infrastructure push, the tension between financial innovation and worker security will likely intensify. The InvIT model may solve the government's balance sheet problems, but for thousands of highway workers, it has created a different kind of uncertainty—one measured not in rupees and debt ratios, but in family budgets and career prospects.

The question facing policymakers is whether India's highway expansion can continue at its current pace without leaving behind the workers who keep those highways running.