'One Vehicle, One FASTag' norm comes into force

The National Highways Authority of India's 'One Vehicle, One FASTag' norm has come into effect from today, a senior official told PTI.

Delhi- For seamless vehicular movement at the Toll Plazas across the country, the state-owned 'One Vehicle, One FASTag' norm has come into force April 1st ," said a senior official of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The goal of the new standard is to deter the connecting of several FASTags to a single vehicle or the use of a single FASTag for multiple vehicles. Due to issues that Paytm FASTag users were experiencing, the NHAI had earlier extended the deadline for compliance with the "One Vehicle, One FASTag" initiative to the end of March.
Multiple FASTags won't function, On (April 1), owners of several FASTags for the same vehicle would not be allowed to utilize them all, the official told PTI.

Understanding the key facets of ‘One Vehicle, One FASTag’ and its implications

The NHAI's initiative is being launched against the backdrop of various reports of FASTags being given for a single vehicle in multiple instances and FASTags being utilized without KYC, which is against RBI rule. Moreover, drivers may purposefully fail to affix FASTags on their windshields, which delays traffic at toll booths and inconveniences other road users.
Additionally, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. (PPBL) clients and merchants were instructed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month to move their accounts to other banks by March 15.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is in charge of running the electronic toll collection system in India called FASTag. It includes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology that allows toll payments to be made directly to the toll owner or from the associated prepaid or savings account.

Rise in electronic toll collection

FASTag, which is revolutionizing India's electronic toll collecting system, has over 8 crore users nationwide and a penetration rate of almost 98 percent.
The use of FASTag for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) has grown steadily over the past few years, which is noteworthy. It includes toll collection via FASTag on fee plazas, such as the Rs. 50,855 crore collected in calendar year 2022 from State Highway charge plazas, an approximate 46% increase from Rs. 34,778 crore in 2021.
In the meantime, compared to 2021, there were roughly 48% more FASTag transactions in 2022. In 2021 and 2022, there were 219 crores and 324 crores of FASTag transactions, respectively.