Road ministry plans to expand the use of FASTags to other sectors beyond toll collection
The ministry of road transport and highways is exploring ways to expand the use of
FASTag
for charging of
electric vehicles
, parking and insurance, over and above paying for the toll on national highways, to firm up the next phase of growth for FASTag besides enhancing user convenience and fostering good governance through integration of technology.
The
Indian Highways and Management Company
(IHMCL), under the administrative control of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), on Wednesday held a workshop with
fintech companies
to explore innovative applications of the FASTag system.
'The objective of the workshop was to gather insights from leading fintech players on various aspects such as regulatory compliance, grievance redressal, security, and non-toll applications of FASTag to expand its use and support its next phase of growth,' the ministry said in a statement issued after the meeting.
The workshop also aimed at building awareness among the fintech companies about multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling to encourage their active participation in this technology-driven transformation of tolling infrastructure, the ministry added.
MLFF tolling is a barrier-less tolling that enables transactions through reading of FASTag and vehicle registration number (VRN) by high performance RFID readers and automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
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The national electronic
toll collection
(NETC) FASTag programme operates across 1,728 toll plazas (1,113 national highways and 615 state highways), contributing to 98.5% of toll payments. India has roughly 110.4 million FASTags issued by over 38 banks.
'The FASTag ecosystem has immense potential, not just for tolling, but as a foundation for seamless
digital travel experiences
across the country,' road transport minister
Nitin Gadkari
said.
'Through collaboration with fintechs and other stakeholders, we aim to expand the utility of FASTag into a robust platform that will enhance user convenience, streamline transport and mobility services, and bring greater efficiency to the sector,' Gadkari added.
According to road secretary V Umashankar, the essence of this workshop is to look at the toll collection mechanisms and how to make it cashless, convenient, time-efficient, fraud-free, and error-free tolling in a collaborative manner.
'We envision fintech as a provider of innovation and the government will be the facilitator to create an end product that will provide a better experience to the road user,' he added.
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