Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

Electronic Toll Collection Through FASTag Grew 46% in 2022

January 27, 2023
FASTag
Forced usage: FASTags have become mandatory for payment of highway toll. People who don’t use these are levied heavy fines, which is almost double the toll fee ( Photo: WIKI COMMONS )

Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) through FASTag has witnessed constant growth over last few years. Total toll collection via FASTag on fee plazas, including State Highway fee plazas during calendar year 2022 was Rs. 50,855 crore, which is an increase of approx. 46% as compared to Rs. 34,778 crore in 2021.

The average daily toll collection through FASTag on NH fee plazas in December 2022 was ₹134.44 Crore, and the single day highest collection touched ₹144.19 Crore on 24 December 2022.

Similarly, the number of FASTag transactions also witnessed a growth of approx. 48% in 2022 as compared to that in 2021. The number of FASTag transactions in 2021 and 2022 was 219 crores and 324 crores respectively.

With 6.4 crores FASTags issued as on date, the total number of FASTag enabled fee plazas across the country also grew to 1,181 (including 323 State highway fee plazas) in 2022 from 922 in the previous year 2021. Notably, MoUs have been signed with 29 different State entities/authorities for on-boarding State fee plazas under FASTag program which include states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, etc.

FASTag implementation has reduced the waiting time at NH Fee Plazas significantly, resulting in enhanced user experience. The constant growth and adoption of FASTag by the highway users has helped in bringing more efficiency in toll operations. Deployment of Electronic Toll Collection system at various fee plazas along National Highways has brought transparency in the system and enabled correct valuation of road assets which has encouraged more investors to invest in the highway infrastructure of the country, particularly, in asset recycling.