Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday mooted for formulating a policy for using the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) rising foreign exchange reserves for funding road projects, mentioning that the country needs low-cost finance for such infrastructure projects.

Addressing a virtual event organised by the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Gadkari further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should also have a financial arm like the Power Ministry's Power Finance Corporation (PFC). Highlighting the importance of infrastructure development for the country, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said his target is to achieve the pace of 100 km per day in highway construction. "We have a surplus of dollar reserves in the country. I have decided to talk with the RBI Governor, about how we can formulate a policy by which we can use these foreign exchange reserves for the development of infrastructure in the country," Gadkari said.

The country's foreign exchange reserves surged by USD 9.427 billion to a record high of USD 620.576 billion in the week ended July 30, according to the latest RBI data.

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