Centre Might Shut Down NHAI’s ETC Subsidiary Due To Lack Of Returns

In December 2012, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) set up a new subsidiary – the Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) – to implement its Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system. The NHAI held 41.38 per cent of IHMCL with various highway operators holding 33.81 per cent and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and ICICI Bank holding the remaining 24.81 per cent.

However, with LIC and ICICI now looking to exit the venture due to a lack of returns, the NHAI might shut down the subsidiary and hand over operations to a South Korean firm, reports Business Standard.

IHMCL implemented the FASTag ETC platform in late 2014 after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power. Apart from ETC operations, it conducts traffic surveys and is also in the process of setting up highway-side amenities under NHAI’s Highway Village and Highway Nest programmes.

The Centre has looked at separated entities to handle different operations in order to streamline operations.