FASTag sale registers 330% growth; over 70 lakh sold till November 27

In wake of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and NHAI initiative to introduce passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology by December 1, 2019, over 70 lakh FASTags have been issued till date, with highest per day issuance of 1,35,583 Tags on 26th November 2019, whereas 1.03 lakh Tags were issued on the day before. 

The average daily issuance of FASTag has increased by 330 per cent from 8,000 in July to 35,000 Tags sold in November 2019. After the announcement of the waiver of Tag cost from 21st November, there has been a growth in FASTag issuance of over 130 per cent. FASTag is accepted on 560+ Toll Plazas and a number of plaza are getting added on a daily basis.

The National Electronic Toll Collection (FASTag) programme will remove bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic and collection of user fees as per the notified rates, using passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. 

The programme is to give a major fillip to enhance digital payments and bring in enhanced transparency. It has been mandated to declare all lanes of fee plazas on National Highways as “FASTag lanes” by 1st December 2019, while provisioning one lane (in each direction) would be kept as a hybrid lane to accept FASTag and other modes of payment.

With the above mandate, average daily transactions processed through FASTag have grown from 8.8 Lakh in July this year to 11.2 Lakh transactions in November 2019, while the average daily collection has grown from Rs 11.2 Crore to Rs 19.5 Crore for the given period.

Certain commuters face difficulty at Toll Plaza due to low balance in FASTAg. To mitigate such difficulty, commuters are advised to maintain sufficient balance in the account/wallet linked to FASTag. 

All the available modes of recharge like Debit Card/Credit Card, Net-Banking and UPI have been enabled for loading money to the FASTag account.  For ease in understanding the recharging process, an easy to understand FAQ has been released.

FAQ - FASTag Recharge

1.  How to recharge a FASTag?
a) Recharge of bank-issued FASTag (i.e. FASTag purchased from a bank)
• Any FASTag issued by a bank can be recharged by visiting respective bank web-portal. On submitting user credentials, a wallet associated with FASTag can be recharged via net banking, UPI and debit/credit card.
• FASTag issued by banks can also be recharged via UPI on My FASTag App (available on Android Play Store, iOS version coming soon)
• Customer may also call respective bank’s customer care number for assistance/information on recharge

b) Recharge of NHAI FASTag (i.e. bank neutral FASTag)
• The NHAI FASTag which is linked to NHAI prepaid wallet can be recharged via UPI on My FASTag App through net banking, UPI and debit/credit card.
• Those NHAI FASTag which are linked to a bank account via My FASTag App is automatically topped up once the balance goes down below the minimum threshold amount. The amount of auto-top can be chosen by the customer by providing standing instruction while linking the tag with a bank account.

2. I have forgotten my Tag details. How to retrieve information?
a) For bank-issued FASTag (i.e. FASTag purchased from a bank)
A customer may call concerned bank’s Toll-free number written on the backside of the tag. The customer has to mention his or her user credentials (mobile number against which the tag has been registered, Vehicle Registration Number (VRN) etc.) On successful verification of user credentials, requisite information shall be provided.

Toll-free numbers of all banks provided below:

1. Axis Bank 1800-419-8585
2. ICICI Bank 1800-2100-104
3. IDFC Bank 1800-266-9970
4. State Bank of India 1800-11-0018
5. HDFC Bank 1800-120-1243
6. Karur Vysya Bank 1800-102-1916
7. Equitas Small Finance Bank 1800-419-1996
8. Paytm Payments Bank 1800-102-6480
9. Kotak Mahindra Bank 1800-419-6606
10. Syndicate Bank 1800-425-0585
11. Federal Bank 1800-266-9520
12. South Indian Bank 1800-425-1809
13. Punjab National Bank 080-67295310
14. Saraswat Bank 1800-266-9545
15. Fino Payments Bank 1860-266-3466
16. City Union Bank 1800-2587200
17. Bank of Baroda 1800-1034568
18. IndusInd Bank 1860-5005004
19. Yes Bank 1800-1200
20. Union Bank 1800-222244
21. Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank 1800-266718
22. Airtel Payments Bank 400

You can also get the customer care number of the banks through the information given below:

i. www.ihmcl.com
ii. My FASTag App
iii. NHAI Helpline number 1033

For NHAI FASTag i.e. bank neutral FASTag, you call at 1033 Helpline number for any assistance.