HMPL's ₹28.47-cr NHAI toll win marks EPC-to-O&M pivot

The Mandate

Hazoor Multi Projects Ltd (HMPL) has stepped outside its road EPC and renewable energy comfort zone with a ₹28.47 crore user fee collection contract from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The 12-month mandate covers the Madangundi Fee Plaza at km 12.3 on NH-31 in Jharkhand and was secured through NHAI's e-tender route, confirmed via regulatory filing on 16 August 2026.

For a Mumbai-based small-cap built on solar and highway EPC execution, the award is more than an incremental order. It places HMPL inside NHAI's tolling services ecosystem — a recurring, cash-generative line that behaves differently from lump-sum construction contracts.

Commercial Structure and Risk

The commercial nuance is critical. The ₹28.47 crore headline reads as projected user fee collection over the tenure, not revenue that lands directly on HMPL's profit line.

Under NHAI's user fee agency model, the operator collects tolls and remits to the authority. Compensation is typically structured as:

- A service fee
- A share of collections
- A collect-and-remit arrangement

Actual margin depends on traffic performance, collection efficiency and the remittance terms HMPL committed to in the e-tender.

That structure hands HMPL real operating risk:

- Traffic volatility on the NH-31 corridor
- FASTag reconciliation
- Toll leakage control
- Staffing discipline across 12 months

In return, it gains a working-capital-friendly stream — daily toll inflows against NHAI's formalised collection framework — a sharp contrast to EPC payment cycles and margin pressure.

Strategic Implications

The strategic signal is the pivot itself. Smaller EPC contractors are bidding for O&M-adjacent services such as toll collection to smooth revenue lumpiness and build annuity-like cash flow without the balance-sheet burden of asset ownership.

For NHAI, the outcome confirms standardised toll operations are now contestable by a broader corporate pool, not only specialised tolling firms.

The execution test for HMPL is whether a project-focused contractor can run a tolling operation with the same discipline it applies to construction sites.

If it can, this contract becomes a repeatable template across NHAI's expanding fee plaza network — a quiet but meaningful shift in how smaller Indian infrastructure firms allocate capital between execution and operations.