E-tolling on national highways share likely to reach 40% by year-end

Electronic tolling (e-tolling) on national highways, after being launched in April 2016, sharply spiked after demonetisation and has since consistently grown at an average 23 per cent.
 
The Union government is hopeful that the contribution of e-tolling will touch 40 per cent by the end of the current financial year (2018-19).
 
The government had been pushing for e-tolling prior demonetisation as well. After invalidating old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination currency notes on November 8, 2016, the government had suspended toll collection to tide over cash crunch. Subsequently, e-tolling was promoted by the government through various campaigns.
 
According to an official, “Another reason why e-tolling picked up in November and December of 2016 was the inclusion of multiple banks in the distribution of FASTags in April 2016.” The reach increased, with other banks starting the issuance of FASTags. “Currently, 22 banks are on board,” the official added.
 
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) roped in ICICI Bank for issuing FASTags - a device that employs radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments. The RFID tag is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables a customer to make toll payments directly from the account linked to the tag.
 
The National Payments Corporation of India has developed the national electronic toll collection programme to meet the e-tolling requirements. Twenty five per cent of the toll collection under NHAI comes via this platform.
 
According to an NHAI official, 95 per cent of the 372 toll plazas across country have a dedicated FASTag lane. By the end of 2017-18, e-tolling revenues were at Rs 228.20 billion at toll plazas across the country.
 
According to the latest data by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in April this year, toll collection at plazas stood at Rs 19.18 billion and till October 14, it was Rs 9.29 billion. However, there was a dip in e-toll revenue in July at Rs 17.98 billion due to the truckers strike.
 
The official list also includes toll collection from privately funded highway projects where the money goes to the private firm. The toll rates are revised approximately 3 per cent every year in April, factoring in the wholesale price index.
 
Complete penetration of RFID tags on highways may take some time as land related issues persist.
 
“Due to problems in acquiring land on some of the existing highways, separate RFID lanes cannot come up. But the NHAI has come up with the concept of hybrid lanes for such highways,” said an NHAI official. Hybrid lanes are essentially lanes that collect toll both with cash and FASTags.

Electronic toll collection in 2018-19

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways