Toll collection through FASTag grows 46 pc in 2022: NHAI

Total toll collection through FASTag on fee plazas, including state highway toll plazas, increased 46 per cent to Rs 50,855 crore in 2022, state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said on Tuesday.

Total toll collection through FASTag on fee plazas, including state highway toll plazas, in 2021 was Rs 34,778 crore.

The average daily toll collection through FASTag on NH fee plazas in December 2022 was Rs 134.44 crore, and the single day highest collection touched Rs 144.19 crore on December 24, 2022, the NHAI said in a statement. Similarly, the statement said the number of FASTag transactions also witnessed a growth of about 48 per cent year-on-year in 2022.

Also read: How GPS toll collection will replace FASTags, end toll plazas

The number of FASTag transactions in 2021 and 2022 was 219 crore and 324 crore, respectively, it added. The statement said with 6.4 crore FASTags issued as of 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 2021.

FASTag implementation has reduced the waiting time at NH Fee Plazas significantly. A FASTag allows a user to pay the highway fee electronically without having to stop at the toll collection booths set up by the highway operators.

Since February 16, 2021, the government has made FASTag mandatory for all private as well as commercial vehicles. As per the rules, vehicles that do not have a valid or functional FASTag must pay double the toll charge as a penalty.

(With Agency inputs)