Tolls Go Digital

India’s national-highway toll plazas stopped taking cash on April 11, shifting payments to FASTag and Unified Payments Interface only. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said the plan would cover more than 1,150 fee plazas on national highways and expressways, with tolls processed through radio-frequency FASTag stickers or Unified Payments Interface scans. (pib.gov.in) The rollout did not start everywhere at once. The Times of India, citing an official statement, said Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry were temporarily left out because the Model Code of Conduct was in force for assembly elections. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) FASTag is the system India has used for years to deduct tolls automatically from a prepaid or linked account when a tagged vehicle passes a reader. The government launched the program in 2016 and later made FASTag mandatory for wider classes of vehicles. (pib.gov.in, pib.gov.in) By February, the government said FASTag penetration had crossed 98 percent, which meant most toll transactions were already electronic before the cash ban took effect. The same statement said Unified Payments Interface facilities were already operating at national-highway toll plazas. (pib.gov.in) The pricing rules had already been nudging drivers away from cash. The ministry said a vehicle entering without a valid working FASTag paid double the normal toll if the fee was settled in cash, while a Unified Payments Interface payment in that situation cost 1.25 times the standard fee. (pib.gov.in) Officials tied the change to traffic flow as much as to payments. The ministry said cash transactions add to congestion, waiting time and disputes at toll booths, while tag-based collection improves lane throughput and cuts stoppage time. (pib.gov.in) The rules are also being tightened behind the scenes for drivers who pass through without paying. Amendments notified on March 18 created an “unpaid user fee” category, allowed electronic notices through phone and email, and linked unpaid dues to the VAHAN vehicle database if they remain unresolved. (nhai.gov.in) That makes toll booths another place in India where payment reliability now has to hold up in real time. On highways where cash is no longer the fallback, a working FASTag balance, a live bank link or a successful Unified Payments Interface transaction now decides how quickly a trip moves. (pib.gov.in, timesofindia.indiatimes.com)