The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is waiving the FASTag fee until the end of February. The fee was exempted for vehicles that were registering for it from November 22 to December 15 in 2019. With this extension, NHAI further encourages the move towards an electronic toll collection system in India. However, there won’t be any change for the minimum balance amount required in the FASTag wallet and security deposit.
A FASTag is an electronic tag that is pasted on a vehicle’s windscreen for identification at toll booths. FASTag uses Radio Frequency Identification technology to enable toll payments directly via prepaid or savings account that has been linked to the tag. It is managed and operated by the National Highway Authority of India.
In a statement made by the Government, they have announced that the NHAI FASTag will be free of cost between February 15 and 29, 2020. Owners of vehicles can obtain a FASTag by visiting any authorized point-of-sale location and carrying along a valid Registration Certificate (RC) of their vehicle.
As per their statement, FASTags can attained from all regional transport offices, national highway fee plazas, common service centers, transport hubs, petrol pumps, etc. The government has also developed an App named MYFASTag to search for locations and also a website – www.ihmcl.com and additionally a helpline number 1033.
As of today, the FASTag system has become accessible in more than 527 national highways across the country with over 1 crore FASTags being issued until December 2019. In a statement made by Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, this implementation of electronic toll collection has grown their revenue to Rs 87 crore from Rs 68 crore.