Dr. Zafar Khan, President, HIA and Executive Director & Joint CEO, Vertis Infrastructure Trust, hosts inaugural conversation with MoRTH Secretary V. Umashankar
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
The Highways Investor Association (HIA) has launched ‘The Highway Dialogues’, a new podcast series bringing together policymakers, investors, industry leaders and infrastructure experts to delve into the ideas, policies, investment frameworks and technologies shaping the future of India’s highway sector.
The series will feature perspectives from across the highway ecosystem, including senior government officials, industry leaders, global infrastructure investors, lenders, policymakers, academics and sector experts. Through these conversations, the series aims to provide retail and institutional investors with greater clarity on the evolving highway sector, its investment opportunities, risks and long-term growth drivers. By bringing together diverse perspectives on policy, financing, asset management, technology and sector trends, ‘The Highway Dialogues’ will help investors better understand the dynamics shaping highways as an investable asset class and make more informed investment decisions.
The inaugural episode, titled ‘The Highway Opportunity’, features Shri V. Umashankar, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), in conversation with Dr. Zafar Khan, President, HIA and Executive Director & Joint CEO, Vertis Infrastructure Trust. The episode explores India’s evolving highway ecosystem, including the role of technology in tolling, the emergence of highways as an investable asset class, the growth of asset monetisation and the importance of long-term asset management.
Speaking on the launch, Dr. Zafar Khan, President, HIA and Executive Director & Joint CEO, Vertis Infrastructure Trust, said, “India’s highway sector has come a long way, and the conversation today is no longer just about building roads. It is also about how we invest in, manage and sustain these assets over the long term. With The Highway Dialogues, we want to bring together the people who are shaping this journey and have open, meaningful conversations around the opportunities and challenges ahead. Most importantly, we want these conversations to be accessible to everyone who is interested in India’s infrastructure story.”
The series will take listeners through the key dimensions of India’s highway ecosystem. Beginning with the broader policy and investment opportunity, subsequent episodes will explore road safety and sustainability, concession and deal structures, financing, tolling and revenue models, construction quality and asset lifecycle management, highway operations, technology and data, risk management, and governance and accountability. Together, these conversations will offer investors and other stakeholders a holistic understanding of the factors influencing the performance, sustainability and long-term investment potential of India’s highway assets.
Link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/@HighwaysInvestorAssociation
About HIA
HIA – Highways Investor Association, formerly Highway Operators Association (of India) (HOA(I)), is a unified platform representing India’s leading highway investors, asset managers, and concessionaires. While our name has changed, our commitment remains the same: strengthening India’s public–private highway ecosystem through responsible investment, policy stability, and operational excellence. HIA’s motto has evolved to “Driving Investment for Safer and Sustainable Mobility.”
Established in 2019, the Association was formed to create a structured and credible platform for long-term infrastructure investors to engage constructively with government stakeholders. What began in 2018 as focused dialogue around hybrid tolling and O&M frameworks has grown into an institutional voice shaping how capital and policy converge in India’s highway sector.
Today, our members collectively manage 153+ highway assets worth over $55 billion, spanning 12,515+ length kilometres of AUM across 22 states and 2 union territories, representing a significant share of India’s operational PPP highway network.
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Dr. Zafar Khan, President, HIA and Executive Director & Joint CEO, Vertis Infrastructure Trust in conversation with MoRTH Secretary V. Umashankar
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Why India’s Highways Are the Next Big Infrastructure Opportunity
(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire India and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.).
(PTI News)
