Summary of this article
EPFO invests Rs 1,000 crore in NHAI RIIT public issue as strategic investor.
The RIIT to raise a total of Rs 9,500 crore, of which Rs 6,000 through equity.
Public issue will open on March 10, with a price band of Rs 99-100 for retail investors.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is to invest in the public issue of the Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT), the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) promoted by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The provident fund regulatory body would buy 16.6 per cent of the units offered by RIIT.
The committed purchase of the 16.6 per cent units by the EPFO is higher than the sponsor NHAI’s commitment to purchase 15 per cent of the units, as reported by Financial Express. The RIIT plans to raise a total of Rs 9,500 crore from this public issue, in which Rs 6,000 crore will be raised through equity and Rs 3,500 through debt. EPFO, which is now the strategic investor in this InvIT, is committed to investing around Rs 1,000 crore in equity shares.
Strategic investors are those who commit to invest and get allocation of the units before the public issue opens for other investors. Earlier, institutional investors such as pension funds and provident funds were not allowed to participate in REITs and InvITs as strategic investors.
However, through a notification in December 2025, Sebi expanded the definition of a strategic investor, allowing pension funds, provident funds, public financial institutions, family trusts, and intermediaries having a net worth of more than Rs 500 crore to be considered as strategic investors. Now, these entities can participate as strategic investors in REITs and InvITs.
After allocating units to the strategic investors, this public issue (RIIT) will be opened for other investors to bid from March 10, 2026. Around 10 per cent of the public issue units are set aside for retail investors. They can buy the units for a price within the price band of Rs 99-100 per unit, and the minimum purchase is set at 150 units, or Rs 14,850.
RIIT will use the funds to acquire five highway stretches from NHAI. These five highway stretches are in four states: Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, and Karnataka. Per the report, over the next five years, the NHAI will provide around Rs 1,500 kilometres of highways to RIIT.
Last year, the EPFO invested in another InvIT, National Highways Infrastructure Trust (NHIT), which was also promoted by the NHAI. EPFO invested over Rs 2,000 crore in it, and overall, NHI offered Rs 6,220 crore to the NHAI to acquire two highway stretches.
In this year so far, NHAI has raised over Rs 12,300 crore through Toll Operate Transfer (ToT). Two rounds are already completed, but a few more are still open for bidding from which NHAI expects to receive funds.
