Rural roads accounted for 71.4 percent of the country’s total road network as of March 2019, according to a report by the Ministry of Roads on Wednesday. According to the report Basic Road Statistics in India-2018-19, as of March 31, 2019, India had a road network of over 63,31,757 kilometers, which is the second largest in the world.

According to the report, the total road built increased from 62,15,797 km in 2018 to 63,31,757 km in 2019, registering a 1.9 percent growth.

According to the report, Maharashtra has the largest network of national highways at 17,757 km (13.4 percent), followed by Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan at 11,737 km (8.9 percent) and 10,342 km (7.8 percent), respectively, as of March 31st, 2019.

State roads accounted for 2.8 percent of the country’s total road network, and the total length of state roads as of March 31, 2019 was 1,79,535 km, she added.

Maharashtra also has the largest state road network at 32,005 km, followed by Karnataka at 19,473 km, Gujarat at 16,746 km, Rajasthan at 15,061 km and Andhra Pradesh at 13,500 km.

Those five states accounted for 53.9 percent of the country’s total state road network, she added

The report pointed out that rural roads account for 71.4 percent of the country’s total road network, and their length has increased to 45,22,228 km as of March 31, 2019, a year-on-year growth of 2.5 percent.

Maharashtra accounted for the largest rural road network at 4,26,327 km, followed by Assam at 3,72,510 km, Bihar at 2,59,507 km, Uttar Pradesh at 2,55,576 km and Madhya Pradesh at 2,32,344 km.

These five states account for 42.4 percent of the country’s total highways, the report said.