Development of Digital Infra Drives FASTag Adoption

The use of FASTag has picked up significantly in the last few months. The higher adoption of electronic toll collection device has been driven by commercial vehicles that account for the majority of traffic on the highways, as well as people shunning the use of cash due to the fear of contagion following the coronavirus outbreak.

At present, FASTag is contributing to nearly three-fourths of the total toll collection of ₹92 crore per day, a sharp jump from ₹70 crore per day a year ago, according to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

A robust digital payment system, the toll infrastructure created over the last year, and a slew of measures taken by the government to disincentivize the use of cash has led to this surge. There are 20 million FASTag users in the country, according to official data.

Over the last year, the road transport and highways ministry has been working aggressively towards the mandatory implementation of FASTag on national highways, including imposition of penalties, and limiting the number of cash lanes at toll plazas. However, it was fraught with teething challenges, including technical glitches with e-wallets and tags, prolonging the waiting time at the toll plazas even for those possessing the electronic device.

Experts said the series of steps taken by the government have prompted people to switch to use of FASTag. “Now, all toll plazas have active infrastructure. While earlier, the government was talking about the infrastructure, there were only two FASTag lanes on toll plazas. Now, they’ve reversed it. Somebody using toll plaza regularly now has an incentive to use FASTag,” said Kushal Singh, partner at Deloitte.

“Any percentage rise in commercial traffic FASTag increases the revenue significantly. Earlier, the penetration of commercial traffic was 70%. This has now grown to 85-90%. Commercial (traffic) accounts for 75% of the total toll traffic,” Singh said.

FASTag is an electronic toll connection device fixed on the windshield of a vehicle to enable drivers to zip through toll plazas without having to stop. It is operational across over 700 state and national highways across the country and will be soon made available at fuel stations, and people will then be able to use it to pay parking fees at malls, airports, and other private parking lots.

Source: LiveMint