Toll collections to see 13% drop due to lockdown

New Delhi: The 57-day nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19 will result in a sharp 13 per cent fall in toll collections and remittances, Crisil Research said on Wednesday.

In case, the lockdown is extended by another two weeks, the decline will be even sharper at 17 per cent, it said. "Traffic on highways set to de-grow 16.5 per cent this fiscal, which would cull toll collection by 13 per cent in base case," a Crisil Research statement said.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the nodal agency for the roads sector, had stopped toll collections up to April 20, 2020, after the government imposed the nationwide lockdown on March 25. Toll collection has restarted since, but there is unlikely to be a V-shaped revival in traffic after the lockdown ends, probably on May 17, the statement said adding, there will only be a gradual return to normalcy.