Big news for IRB Infrastructure! On November 17, the company’s shares jumped nearly 7%, hitting Rs 46, after it received the Letter of Award (LoA) from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The prize? The huge TOT-17 project worth Rs 9,270 crore – the highest-valued 20-year highway monetisation deal awarded by NHAI so far. This project covers 366 kilometres along the famous Lucknow–Ayodhya–Gorakhpur corridor on NH-27, plus a stretch of the Lucknow–Varanasi route on NH-731. Chairman and Managing Director Virendra D. Mhaiskar called it a "major milestone" because it sits on a religious tourism corridor, a hotspot for visitors. Mr. Mhaiskar proudly said, “This takes the IRB platform’s share in the TOT segment to 42% and moves the group closer to its ambition of reaching an asset portfolio of Rs 1 lakh crore.” He also highlighted growing trust from private investors in India’s highway monetisation drive. With TOT-17, IRB’s portfolio now includes 27 highway assets across both Private and Public InvIT platforms. These consist of 18 Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects, 5 TOT deals, and 4 Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) projects. This strengthens IRB’s position in India’s booming road infrastructure scene. The addition of TOT-17 means IRB will manage another 1,600 lane kilometres of roads, adding to the 19,000 lane kilometres it already operates and maintains across India. The group now controls around 14% of the Golden Quadrilateral network and 12% of the North–South highway corridor. As a result, IRB expects a big jump in toll revenue and its total asset value will cross Rs 90,000 crore. Plus, their operations and maintenance order book could grow by nearly 20%. On the stock market, at about 10:30 am, IRB shares were trading at Rs 45.60 on NSE, up 6.10% on the day. However, the stock is still down by about 25% for the year. This win is a big thumbs up for IRB’s long-term growth. Who knew highways could be such a hot ticket?