StartupTalky

Tag: Toll Tax

  • FASTag-The New Way To Pay Toll Tax online

    HOW irritating can be to stop at toll tax areas, and pay the cash? With India promoting cashless economy, the Toll tax centers are also taking a major step towards making the whole process a cashless and in order to do so, GOI has introduced FASTag.

    FASTag refers to an electronic toll tax collection system in India, where people will be able to pay toll tax online. It is operated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). To make it simple, there are prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection that allow automatic payment deduction fixed on the windscreen of the vehicle.

    In order to reduce the traffic at the toll places, the GOVERNMENT OF INDIA made it mandated all the toll plazas, to make toll payments electronic, from 1st Dec 2019, and because of this, all the vehicles passing through toll plazas will have to pay toll tax online using FASTag. Lets find out how to pay toll tax online with the help of FASTag.

    What are FASTag?
    How FASTag works?
    Benefits of FASTag
    Fees and Charges of FASTag
    How to purchase FASTag?
    FAQ

    What are FASTag?

    FASTag is a simple to use, reloadable tag which enables the automatic deduction of toll charges and allows the user to pass through the toll plaza without stopping for toll tax payment.

    How FASTag works?

    The FASTag uses a simple formula to work. It is linked to the user’s prepaid count from where the amount required for toll tax is deducted. It uses Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technology which is affixed to the vehicle’s windscreen after the account is active. It is a solution for a hassle-free trip on the highways.

    Benefits of FASTag

    1. It has SMS alerts for transactions which allows the customer to receive SMS alerts on the user’s registered mobile numbers for  all the transactions done in the tag account.
    2. As FASTag are read by the tag reader at the plaza and the amount is deducted automatically, as soon as the car reaches the toll plaza. So, the vehicle doesn’t have to wait on the toll plaza to pay toll tax, saving both time as well as fuel of the user.
    3. It allows the customer to recharge their FASTag account online via their credit card, debit card, NEFT, RTGS, UPI or net banking.
    4. Due to FASTag, the drivers are now don’t have to carry around cash for toll tax payment.
    5. To keep a track on the statements and transactions the users can check it by log-in to their FASTag customer portal.

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    FASTag Amount collected through online Toll tax
    FASTag Amount collected through Toll tax

    Fees and Charges of FASTag

    1. Till December 1, NHAI is distributing it free of cost, with an amount of ₹150.
    2. The one-time joining fee is ₹100 including taxes.
    3. Afterwards, the user has to maintain a security deposit of ₹200 for a car, jeep, van and a minimum balance of ₹100.
    4. One can also link the account directly to their account or can keep the amount in their FASTag wallet.
    5. The minimum recharge amount is ₹100.

    How to purchase FASTag?

    The user can buy the FASTag at Amazon and a few selected banks like SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis Bank etc. To buy FASTag, the user needs to submit KYC documents like Registration certificate of the vehicle, passport-size photograph KYC documents of the vehicle owner and ID proof(any of the following driving license, Aadhar card, passport, PAN or Voted ID).

    After purchasing it, the user needs to activate it by entering details related to the user and the vehicle in my FASTag mobile app.

    How to Activate FASTag?

    To activated FASTag, you need to follow these steps:

    • First, you have to download the FASTag app on your mobile.
    • On the homepage of FASTag app, click on ‘Activate NHAI FASTag’ option.
    • Choose the E-commerce site from which you have purchased your FASTag.
    • After this, either scan the QR code or enter the 24-digit FASTag ID that can be found at the bottom of the tag and you can get your FASTag activated.
    • After the activation, link your bank account with the FASTag.

    FAQs

    How to check the balance on the FASTag?

    The customer can check the balance of FASTag on the website of the issuer agency.

    How to block the FASTag if the card is lost?

    Customer can call up the customer care number of the agency from where, they issued the FASTag and can block their FASTag accounts.

    What to do if one lost their FASTag card?

    After losing the card, one can call up the customer care customer care number of the agency from where, they issued the FASTag and can block their FASTag accounts. Then, one can open a new account and the balance of the old account can be transferred to the new one.

    One FASTag can be used for one vehicle only and the customer has to buy separate FASTag for separate vehicles.

  • How GPS imaging will replace Toll Booths in India within one year?

    Toll Booths are very common for an Indian citizen who takes a road trip often and stopping in between your road tips multiple times to pay tolls which consumes a lot of time. However, the Government had introduced FASTag to fasten the process but still was not effective as expected. The Transport Minister has currently announced that the toll booths will be removed from the country and will be replaced by GPS imaging. In this article let’s look at more information regarding it.

    GPS Imaging Toll Booths – Latest News
    Reason Why Government is moving to GPS imaging toll
    The success of FASTag Toll
    How does GPS Imaging work
    FAQ

    Toll Booths – Latest News

    The Government has announced that it would remove all toll booths across the country within a year and will continue the collection of tolls through GPS imaging on the vehicles instead of using toll booths. This was conveyed by the Road Transport and Highways Minister of the country, Nitin Gadkari.

    He conveyed to the Lok Sabha that he would provide an assurity within a year all the toll booths in the country would be removed and the toll collection would happen through GPS imaging.

    Reason Why Government is moving to GPS imaging toll

    The announcement of the removal of the toll booth was announced as an answer to the question that was raised by BSP’s Danish Ali.

    Danish Ali had complained about the toll booths in the Ganamukteshwar in the Hapur district saying that according to the rule there should be toll booths at an interval of 60 km on the National Highways but his constituency had toll booths at an interval of 40 km.

    The Transport Minister said that he knows that in some places there are too many toll booths and added that it is wrong and unfair and also conveyed that he would remove it.

    One of the reasons mentioned by him was that there was a lot of theft in this system and said that the income from toll booths used to be around INR 24,000 crore per year and during the Covid, the income generated from toll booths was less which was around INR 10,000 crore.

    Value of tolls collected on national highways across India
    Value of tolls collected on national highways across India

    The success of FASTag

    The FASTag system which helps in paying the fee on the toll plaza through an electronic system was introduced in the country in the year 2016. Around 93% of the existing vehicles use FASTag for paying the tolls but the remaining 7% have not adopted to using FASTag.

    The vehicles that have not adopted to paying toll through FASTag will have to pay double the amount as toll fees. Gadkari has conveyed that it seems like the rest of the vehicles do not want to leave a record of their travel details and added that he has called an police enquiry for the matter.

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    How does GPS Imaging work

    The collection of toll fees would be through the GPS which will collect the toll tax based on the image that is captured and charge them accordingly.

    At the beginning of the toll road, there will be a camera that will capture an image on GPS. The toll money will be charged based on from where a vehicle would be coming from and will be going to. There will be no toll booths and no one will be stopped on their way.

    Conclusion

    Toll booths are one of the major sources of income for the Government of India. Replacing of Toll booths with GPS Imaging will be one of the steps to achieve digitalization after the adoption of FASTag.

    FAQ

    What is GPS Imaging toll collection?

    GPS imaging means that toll collection will happen via GPS. The money will be collected based on GPS imaging on vehicles.

    Why are there tolls in India?

    In India, Toll tax is charged for raising the cost incurred in constructing as well as for maintaining the roads.

    What is GPS FASTag?

    The Government of India is planning to remove toll booths and implement low powered GPS FASTag, which will collect the toll tax by GPS imaging.