New Delhi, November 1: While plans are afoot to make FASTag mode of electronic toll collection mandatory in India, the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology-based digital payments in October 2019 collected tolls worth Rs 702,86 Crore from 31 million transaction counts, as compared to the collection of Rs 658.94 Crore from 29.01 million counts in September 2019.
The data collected by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) suggests a rising popularity of FASTag mode of payments, which automatically deducts toll charges without a need for the driver to stop the vehicle at toll plazas for transaction. The device captures all vehicle-related data with the help of high-end RFID readers and cameras mounted at toll booths. A user receives an SMS alerts on his registered mobile number for all the transactions done in his tag account.
The use of such technology in India is known to have started in 2013 by setting up electronic toll collection (ETC) device in six toll plazas on the highway connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad. According to NPCI, FASTag is now live in more than 528 national highway’s toll plazas across the country. The mode of payments has been developed under the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program by the NPCI.
Praveena Rai, Chief Operating Officer, NPCI said, “FASTag has been one of our primary focus and in less than 2 years it has become truly interoperable. Today, we have 23 member banks that issue FASTag and 10 member banks that acquire FASTag transactions.”
FASTag is also venturing into the state highways as well as city toll plazas. NPCI plans to soon make it available across petrol pumps of the country, hinting that this mode of digital payments may become a medium for buying petrol and paying for parking fees.
As per May 2018 report by PricewaterCoopers (PWC), citing a joint study by the Transport Corporation of India and IIM Calcutta, the implementation of a pan-India electronic toll collection system on national highways may help Indian government save approximately Rs 87,000 Crore annually. The platform would also be responsible for handling offline clearing, settlement, disputes, fraud and master data management, said the report.