Ashoka Buildcon has been declared L1 for NHAI’s Package IX balance work on a 26.6-km stretch of the Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway, with a quoted EPC price of ₹865.90 crore excluding GST.
Newsflash:
Ashoka Buildcon has been declared L1 for NHAI’s Package IX balance work on a 26.6-km stretch of the Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway, with a quoted EPC price of ₹865.90 crore excluding GST.
Ashoka Buildcon has been declared the lowest bidder (L1) for the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) balance-work package on a 26.6-km section of the Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway in Gujarat. The company disclosed a quoted engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) price of ₹865.90 crore, excluding GST, in an intimation to the stock exchanges on 5 November 2026.
The development moves the Package IX procurement to the L1 stage. It does not, by itself, establish that NHAI has issued a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) or executed the contract.
An NHAI technical evaluation result dated 5 November 2026 identifies four bidders as technically responsive to the eligibility and qualification requirements:
The letter stated that the financial proposals would be opened online at 9:40 am on 5 November. Ashoka Buildcon’s exchange disclosure that evening confirmed that it had been declared L1 for the project.
The tender covers balance work for an eight-lane, access-controlled expressway from km 128.0 to km 154.6 of the Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway, between Karvad and Jujuwa in Gujarat. The chainages indicate a 26.6-km section.
NHAI issued the procurement under tender reference NHAI/2026/PIU-Surat/VME-Pkg-IX/e-316037 and tender ID 2026_NHAI_279063_1. The official e-procurement record lists an estimated tender value of ₹873.62 crore, a period of work of 540 days and EPC as the contract form.
Ashoka Buildcon’s disclosed EPC price is ₹865.90 crore, excluding GST. Its filing specifies an execution period of 18 months and a defect-liability period of 10 years. The filing names NHAI as the domestic project authority.
The tender portal lists a 540-day work period, while Ashoka’s filing states 18 months. Neither source specifies a mobilisation date or the date from which the execution period will begin. The tender record’s estimated value and the company’s GST-exclusive quote are reported on their respective source bases; Equipment Brief has not calculated a bid discount from figures whose tax basis is not stated on a like-for-like basis.
L1 identifies the lowest bidder in the procurement process. It should not be reported as a contract award until the authority issues the relevant acceptance or award documentation. Ashoka Buildcon’s 5 November disclosure confirms its L1 position and quoted price; it does not state that the company has received an LoA or signed the EPC agreement.
The next material milestone is formal award documentation from NHAI. Until that is disclosed, the ₹865.90-crore figure should be treated as Ashoka Buildcon’s quoted EPC price at the L1 stage, not as a confirmed contract value or secured order. For a fuller explanation of the distinction, read Equipment Brief’s guide to L1 versus LoA in Indian works tenders.
The package is for balance work on an eight-lane expressway section, with an 18-month execution period stated by the L1 bidder. That provides a potential construction window, but the exchange filing does not specify equipment quantities, a machine schedule or the detailed work breakdown. Suppliers should wait for the formal award and mobilisation details before drawing conclusions about fleet demand or equipment orders.
For related NHAI procurement developments, see Equipment Brief’s coverage of Dilip Buildcon’s L1 position on the Solapur NH-65 elevated corridor and the NHAI tender for six-laning the Hyderabad–Vijayawada NH-65 corridor. Further procurement updates are tracked in the Tender Watch hub.
Sources: NHAI e-procurement tender record; NHAI tender stage-status page; Ashoka Buildcon’s 5 November 2026 exchange disclosure (filing text and attachment).
Featured image: Representative asphalt-paving activity; it does not depict the Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway Package IX or Ashoka Buildcon’s work. Photograph: Christian Agbede / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License.
