India to Roll Out Barrier-Less Highway Toll System Within a Year: Gadkari
Union Minister announces nationwide rollout of new electronic toll collection system FASTag-powered NETC platform to ensure seamless highway travel.
New Delhi, Dec 4: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that India’s existing toll collection system will be phased out within a year, making way for a fully electronic, barrier-less tolling mechanism to ensure seamless travel across national highways.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Gadkari said the new electronic toll collection system has already been launched at 10 locations and will be deployed nationwide within the next 12 months.
“This toll system will end. There will be no one to stop you in the name of toll. Within a year, an electronic toll collection system will be implemented across the country,” he said.
The minister also informed the House that nearly 4,500 highway projects worth ₹10 lakh crore are currently underway across India.
According to an official statement, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has developed the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme—an interoperable, unified platform designed to streamline toll payments on highways.
At the heart of the NETC system is FASTag, an RFID-based tag affixed to a vehicle’s windscreen, enabling automatic toll deduction from the user’s linked account without requiring vehicles to stop at plazas.
