IRB Infra is among the top five gainers on the BSE since the opening bell today; the stock, which had closed yesterday at Rs.42.15, opened today at Rs.43.50 and went on to hit a new 52-week high at Rs.46.70, up 11%.

The reason for the euphoria on the counter? Toll collections were very good for Dec’23.

The company said that IRB Infrastructure Developers and its associate IRB Infrastructure Trust, the largest Infrastructure Investment Trust in India’s highways sector, have collectively reported toll collection growth of 26% in the month of December 2023 over the corresponding month of FY23, i.e., December 2022. The toll collection for December 2023 reported is Rs.488 crore v/s Rs.388 crore (YoY).

Amitabh Murarka, Dy CEO of the Company said, “Since, the second half of the FY is always better from Toll Collection perspective, we expect this growth to continue for the remaining quarter of FY24 too, especially after Samakhiyali Santalpur BOT project in the State of Gujarat which started toll collection from December 28, 2023, and will have full month toll revenue in remaining months of FY24.”

Interestingly, almost 32% of the total toll collected comes from the Mumbai-Pune Expressway alone. Second best is Ahmedabad Vadodara expressway at 13.5%.