RAS question
By how much did India's national highway network expand from FY14 to December FY26?
Correct answer: (B) 60% — from 91,287 km to 1,46,572 km.
India's national highway network expanded by 60 per cent, from 91,287 km in FY14 to 1,46,572 km by December FY26.
Explanation
The Economic Survey's roads and highways chapter presents this as a direct comparison between FY14 and FY26 up to December: the total National Highway network rose from 91,287 km to 146,572 km, marked as a 60 per cent increase. That is why option B is the only choice that gets both the base year figure and the December FY26 figure right. The same chart-set also shows the related upgrade in road quality and speed: operational High-Speed Corridors increased from 550 km in FY14 to 5,364 km by FY26 up to December, described as a nearly ten-fold rise. The question therefore tests the official infrastructure expansion metric, not a rough estimate of highway growth.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Option A understates the expansion and uses figures, 1,10,000 km and 1,43,000 km, that do not match the official FY14-to-December-FY26 chart.
- (C) Option C wrongly turns the change into a 100 per cent doubling and replaces the official 91,287 km and 1,46,572 km figures with rounded estimates.
- (D) Option D gives a plausible-looking 45 per cent rise, but both its starting figure and percentage are inconsistent with the official 60 per cent increase.
Concept
This tests infrastructure-led growth under Indian Economy, especially the use of official highway indicators in evaluating public investment. RAS repeats such questions because roads, logistics and capital expenditure link static economy concepts with current government data.