Current Affairs - Business - Discussion

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed an MoU(Memorandum of understanding) with National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to fund large scale projects, including highways in a bid to achieve Prime Minister's vision to make India a $5-trillion economy in the next five years. The MoU meant to form SPVs (special purpose vehicles )to execute the fund arrangement for large size green field road projects to be executed by NHAI. In a major greenfield investment, the two organizations would be investing equity of around Rs 15,000 crores in the Delhi- Mumbai expressway, and can further raise a debt of around Rs 60,000 crores on the equity. The MoU will provide innovative financial models including for the 24,000 km Rs.7.5 lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana and it will also boost private investments in a big way to go ahead with the plan of highway expansion.