Ministry
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is the Union ministry that builds, funds and regulates India's national highway network and administers motor-vehicle and road-transport law nationwide. It sets highway standards, routes central capital into road construction, and oversees the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the statutory body that develops and finances most of the network. Through the National Highways Act and the Motor Vehicles Act it holds the levers over how India's roads are built, tolled and policed.
Updated
- Headquarters
- Transport Bhawan, 1 Parliament Street, New Delhi
- Budget (2025-26)
- ~Rs 2.87 lakh crore (approx. Rs 2,873 billion)
- National highway network
- ~146,000 km (as of Aug 2025)
- Construction pace (FY25)
- ~29 km/day (10,660 km built)
Role
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is the apex Union body for road transport, national highways and transport research. It works through two wings: a Roads Wing that plans, develops and maintains National Highways and sets the engineering standards for roads and bridges, and a Transport Wing that administers motor-vehicle legislation, vehicle registration and licensing, compulsory insurance, road-safety norms and the national compilation of accident data. Its statutory reach runs through the National Highways Act, 1956 and the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which together give it authority over how highways are declared, built and tolled and how vehicles and drivers are regulated across every state.
The ministry does most of its building through arms-length bodies rather than directly. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a statutory authority operational since February 1995, develops and finances the bulk of the network; the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) handles roads in border and hill regions; and vehicles such as the Indian Highways Management Company (tolling systems) and the National Highways Infra Trust (asset monetisation) sit under the same umbrella. This makes MoRTH a central seat of infrastructure power: it directs one of the largest annual capital allocations in the Union budget, and its standards and tolling decisions shape freight costs and mobility for the whole economy.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
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Department of War Transport created
The lineage of the present ministry begins with the July 1942 Department of War Transport, formed by splitting the Department of Communications.
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National Highways Act enacted
The Act vested national highways in the Union and became the statutory basis for declaring, developing and tolling them.
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NHAI Act and Motor Vehicles Act passed
Parliament created the National Highways Authority of India and enacted the consolidated Motor Vehicles Act, the ministry's two core statutes.
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NHAI becomes operational
The National Highways Authority of India began functioning as an autonomous statutory body under the ministry's administrative control.
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NHDP Phase V approved for six-laning of high-density corridors
The government approved Phase V of the National Highways Development Project to widen roughly 5,000 km of existing four-lane highway to six lanes on build-operate-transfer terms, shifting the ministry's emphasis from new alignment to capacity on already-saturated corridors.
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NHDP Phase III approved: 12,109 km upgrade on build-operate-transfer terms
Phase III cleared the upgrade of 12,109 km of national highways on a BOT basis, entrenching concession-based private financing as the ministry's default delivery model rather than departmental construction.
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MoRTH takes its present form
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways emerged as a standalone ministry when the combined Shipping, Road Transport and Highways ministry was bifurcated.
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FASTag electronic tolling pilot launched on the Golden Quadrilateral
The ministry began a FASTag RFID tolling pilot on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral, the first step in moving national highway toll collection off cash lanes and onto a centrally readable electronic system.
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Bharatmala Pariyojana approved
The Union Cabinet approved Bharatmala Phase I, targeting about 34,800 km of highways including economic corridors and greenfield expressways.
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NHDP wound up and its residual length folded into Bharatmala
The National Highways Development Project, the ministry's organising programme since 1998, was closed and about 10,000 km of unbuilt NHDP length was merged into Bharatmala Phase I, consolidating highway building under a single umbrella scheme.
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Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act passed, overhauling penalties and road-safety machinery
Parliament cleared the amendment after passage in both Houses between 23 July and 5 August 2019, raising the maximum drunk-driving fine from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000, exposing manufacturers to penalties up to Rs 100 crore and vehicle recall, creating a National Road Safety Board and a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, and lifting minimum hit-and-run death compensation from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh.
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FASTag made mandatory across national highways
FASTag became mandatory throughout India, following a November 2017 requirement that all new vehicles sold from December 2017 carry a tag.
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FASTag made compulsory at every toll plaza nationwide
After deferral from 1 January 2021, FASTag became compulsory at every toll plaza in the country; annual FASTag collection reached Rs 33,274 crore in 2021-22 against Rs 871 crore in 2016-17.
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BH-series pan-India registration mark notified
The ministry notified the Bharat (BH) series registration mark, letting eligible central and state government employees and staff of firms with offices in four or more states or union territories move between states without re-registering a vehicle - a direct central incursion into a registration function run by state transport authorities.
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Bharatmala Phase 1 costs re-based as per-km outlay rises from Rs 14 crore to Rs 24 crore
Against an approved Phase 1 outlay of about Rs 6.92 lakh crore, per-km cost rose from Rs 14 crore to Rs 24 crore; by March 2023 the ministry had awarded 76% of CCEA-approved projects but sanctioned 158% of CCEA-approved funds, and the CAG flagged the cost-estimate changes and asked for project-wise accounting to stop fund diversion between schemes.
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Bharat NCAP crash-test star rating programme launched
The ministry launched Bharat NCAP, a voluntary crash-test programme assigning star ratings to cars sold in India, with testing operational from 1 October 2023 and the first results published in December 2023.
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Road Accidents in India 2022 reports 1.68 lakh deaths, a 9.4% rise
The ministry published its annual report recording 4,61,312 road accidents in calendar 2022, which killed 1,68,491 people and injured 4,43,366 - up 11.9% in accidents, 9.4% in fatalities and 15.3% in injuries over the previous year. The report is compiled from state and UT police returns in UNESCAP standardised formats.
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NHAI outstanding debt reaches Rs 3.35 lakh crore; fresh borrowing halted
NHAI's total outstanding debt stood at Rs 3,35,173 crore as of 25 July 2024. The authority has taken no fresh borrowings since 2022-23 and services the stock from toll revenue and asset monetisation, marking a shift from debt-funded expansion to cash-flow-funded building.
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Network passes ~146,000 km; FASTag Annual Pass launched
The national highway network stood at roughly 146,000 km after 10,660 km were built in FY25, and a FASTag Annual Pass for private vehicles went live on 15 August 2025.
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Ministry allocation plateaus at Rs 2.87 lakh crore in 2025-26
The ministry was allocated Rs 2,87,333 crore for 2025-26, 2% above the 2024-25 revised estimate of Rs 2,80,519 crore, with NHAI receiving Rs 1,70,266 crore - flattening the capital line after years of rapid growth.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Road Transport and Highways?
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is the Union ministry that builds, funds and regulates India's national highway network and administers motor-vehicle and road-transport law nationwide. It sets highway standards, routes central capital into road construction, and oversees the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the statutory body that develops and finances most of the network. Through the National Highways Act and the Motor Vehicles Act it holds the levers over how India's roads are built, tolled and policed.
- When was Ministry of Road Transport and Highways established?
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was established 2009.
- What does Ministry of Road Transport and Highways do?
- Its remit covers Planning, development and maintenance of National Highways, Setting engineering standards for roads and bridges, Administration of the National Highways Act, 1956 and highway tolling policy, Administration of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (licensing, registration, road safety, insurance), Oversight of NHAI, NHIDCL and highway public-sector undertakings, Compilation of national road-accident statistics and road-safety policy.
- What is the latest on Ministry of Road Transport and Highways?
- As of 2026-07-06: Ministry allocation plateaus at Rs 2.87 lakh crore in 2025-26. The ministry was allocated Rs 2,87,333 crore for 2025-26, 2% above the 2024-25 revised estimate of Rs 2,80,519 crore, with NHAI receiving Rs 1,70,266 crore - flattening the capital line after years of rapid growth.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
- Official website
morth.gov.in/
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Canonical ministry home; circulars, notifications, publications. Angular SPA — deep paths collapse to the hash home.
morth.gov.in/en
- National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) department
Statutory authority under MoRTH for NH development, tolling, Bharatmala, asset monetisation.
nhai.gov.in/
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Public dashboards on vehicle registrations and driving licences from RTOs on Vahan 4.0 / Sarathi 4.0.
analytics.parivahan.gov.in/analytics/
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PIB release archive entry under Ministry of Road Transport & Highways; announces the annual Road Accidents in India report.
www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1973295
- Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (India Code) legislation
Bare Act with sections, rules, notifications — the principal statute MoRTH administers.
www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1798
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Act constituting NHAI for development, maintenance and management of national highways.
www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1803