The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to establish the NHAI Centre for Economics of Transportation, Mobility and Logistics at NCAER. The Centre will be India’s first permanent and independent research institution dedicated to the economics of transportation, mobility and logistics.
The Centre is being established with a founding contribution from NHAI, while NCAER has committed to mobilising support and contributions from other allied institutions and partners.
The MoU was signed at NHAI Headquarters in the presence of the Chairman of NHAI, the Director General of NCAER, and senior officials from both organisations, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said on Tuesday.
This first-of-its-kind initiative reflects NHAI’s commitment to integrating research, data analytics and evidence-based decision-making into the development and management of the country’s rapidly expanding national highway infrastructure.
On the occasion, NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav said, “NHAI has been at the forefront of enhancing national connectivity and logistics efficiency. This partnership with NCAER will create a dedicated platform for high-quality research and policy analysis, helping strengthen planning, investment and asset management decisions in the transportation sector.”
The Centre will serve as a dedicated platform for undertaking applied economic research on transportation, mobility and logistics, with a focus on generating actionable insights to support long-term planning, investment and policy formulation in the road transport sector.
It will undertake policy-relevant research across a wide range of thematic areas, including national highway economics, freight logistics, modal integration, the regional economic impact of national highway investments, toll policy, asset monetisation, road safety interventions, and technology adoption in national highway operations and maintenance.
The Centre’s research outputs will assist the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI and other government agencies in designing policies and programmes aimed at enhancing efficiency, sustainability and user experience across the transportation ecosystem.