NHAI saves around Rs 1,000 crore of interest through debt payment plan

New Delhi: State-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Tuesday said it saved around Rs 1,000 crore of interest payment through its debt payment plan.

NHAI in a statement said as per the government directions, InvIT monetization proceeds are to be exclusively used for NHAI debt repayment.

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"NHAI achieved a significant financial milestone with the successful pre-payment of bank loan amounting to Rs 15,700 crore," it said.

"Retiring this debt ahead of schedule will result in an estimated interest savings of around Rs. 1,000 crore," the statement added.

With this pre-payment, the statement said outstanding debt liability of NHAI has come down to around Rs 3,20,000 crore. As a part of the robust debt payment plan and using InvIT monetization proceeds, NHAI has been actively engaging with the lender banks to reduce interest rates.

"As a result, banks have reduced their interest rate from 8.00-8.10% to 7.58-7.59%," the statement said, adding in this process, bank loans where interest rates could not be reduced have been repaid Rs 15,700 crore and this will result in significant interest savings of around Rs 1,000 crores.

The statement said the savings realized from this debt reduction will play a pivotal role in advancing ongoing and future National Highway projects.

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