Almost 30 per cent of toll charges from national highways are now being collected electronically, up from 25 per cent four months ago. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the highways body that supervises the process now sees almost 1 million electronic transactions on a daily basis, say sources in the know. NHAI collects about ₹60-65 crore on a daily basis as toll charges, of which 30 per cent is done electronically.
Demand for FASTAGs or the e-cards that allows a person to zoom through the highways is on the rise because they significantly reduce the waiting time at toll plazas, do away with the need to transact in cash, and offer discounts for electronic payments. A drop in the price of FASTAGs has also spurred its uptake among highway users.
In mid-2018, the price of FASTAGs was capped at ₹100 including GST, which appears to have further pushed the adoption of tags in absolute terms.
Time saved during the overall trip is another factor contributing to high demand, an official pointed out. In fact, while using FASTAGS, an user spends hardly 10-15 seconds at the toll plaza for making payment, a fraction of the time spent by others who pay by cash. Lower time spent for paying toll also increases the overall capacity of the road.
At present, almost 450 toll plazas have at least one lane collecting toll through an electronic process.
FASTAGS — which have multiple data of vehicles embedded in them such as the engine and chassis number — may well emerge as an unique identity number for vehicles — quite like the Aadhaar for people.
Integration of the e-Way-bill, which will allow the FASTAGS to have the e-Way bill number, is expected to further push the adoption of e-Way bills, points out a source. E-way bill integration is expected to be discussed in the next GST Council meeting.
Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (JMCL) is also widening the payment choices by adding more banks and wallets. These tags are expected to lower the leakages at toll booths, when the toll collecting agencies report less than the amount collected.
Some toll booths near Bhopal, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Vijayawada have started collecting about 40-50 per cent of their tolls charges through electronic means. NHAI and IHMCL are now trying to loop in more States and cities to adopt the FASTAGs so that users can use the same card to make payments for a range of other services such as parking.