NHAI’s Mobile Apps Drive Sale Of Electronic Toll Collection Tags

Two mobile applications launched to facilitate electronic toll collection on national highways have put the sale of cashless payment tags in the fast lane in two weeks.

The radio-frequency identification tag, also called FASTag, doesn’t require a motorist to stop at a toll plaza for cash payment. Introduced three years ago, the usage was growing slowly. The sales rose 60 percent after August 17, when the National Highway Authority came out with apps – MyFASTag and FASTag Partner – for selling and recharging the tags online.

“Before the app, on an average around 7,500 tags were sold every week. But after the app, 12,500 are being sold every week,” said Akhilesh Srivastava, chief general manager of the central road authority. So far, 6.2 lakh tags have been sold since 2014.

Motorists need not visit a bank or a toll plaza to buy a tag, which costs Rs 200, any more. Orders can be placed through the apps for home delivery, said Srivastava.

The numbers are expected to go up as the NHAI on September 3 dedicated one lane for FASTag users at 346 toll plazas across the country. Average weekly toll collection through FASTags increased to 18 percent from 12 percent of the overall revenue of Rs 50 crore prior to August 17, said Srivastava. “We will open up another dedicated lane once it reaches 30 percent.”

National and state highways in India comprise less than 5 percent of the roads but account for 80 percent of traffic, Nomura said in a report in July. This mismatch also means that vehicles halting for cash transactions at toll booths add to the chaos.

The government has now made it mandatory for all vehicles registered after October 1 to have a FASTag, which is fixed on the windshield. The aim is to have scanners to collect toll from FASTags on all lanes at all toll booths on national highways, said the NHAI official.

MEP Infrastructure Developers, which operates toll plazas at all the five entry points to Mumbai and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, said 1.3 lakh car owners have been using these chips in the city. “The main advantage of the electronic tags is transparency,” said a spokesperson from MEP Infra.

When Users Pull A Fast One

The efficient and hassle-free experience of FASTags has a flip side too. Some vehicle users have already found a way to outwit the system.

Isaac George, director finance at toll operator GVK Power and Infrastructure, said they have come across cases where people buy tags for a car but fix it on another vehicle to save money. “For instance, a multi-axle vehicle has a different toll compared to a car. There is some sort of fraud that is being committed and I lose my money.”

GVK Power and Infra runs the Jaipur-Kishangarh and Deoli-Kota expressways in Rajasthan.

Isaac said the company has requested banks to ensure that the tag is fixed only on the vehicle whose documents are submitted to buy the chip.

Delay in receiving payment is another hurdle that toll operators face, Isaac said. “If the payment clearing agency, which in this case is the bank, doesn’t clear the dues on time, the implementing company is at a loss.”