Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that FASTags will become mandatory for all vehicles from 1st December, 2019. FASTag is presently operational at 500+ toll plazas across National and State Highways. The system is inter-operable and the same FASTag can be used across all toll plazas under the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program. More toll plazas are getting added every month.

What is FASTag?

FASTag is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly while the vehicle is in motion. FASTag (RFID Tag) is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables a customer to make the toll payments directly from the account which is linked to FASTag.

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FASTag offers the convenience of cashless payment along with benefits like saving on fuel and time as the customer does not has to stop at the toll plaza.

FASTag is also vehicle specific and once it is affixed to a vehicle, it cannot be transferred to another vehicle. FASTag can be purchased from any of the NETC Member Banks. If a FASTag is linked to the prepaid account, then it needs to be recharged/ topped-up as per the usage of the customer. If adequate balance is not maintained by the customer, the FASTag gets blacklisted at the toll plaza. In such a scenario if the customer travels through a toll plaza without recharging then he won’t be able to avail the NETC services and would be required to pay the toll fare via cash.

The tag has a validity of 5 years and after purchasing, you only need to recharge/ top up the tag as per your usage.

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National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has developed the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program to meet the electronic tolling requirements of the Indian market. It offers an interoperable nationwide toll payment solution including clearing house services for settlement and dispute management. Interoperability, as it applies to National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) system, encompasses a common set of processes, business rules and technical specifications which enable a customer to use their FASTag as payment mode on any of the toll plazas irrespective of who has acquired the toll plaza.

Currently there is cashback offer of 2.5% from NHAI on all Toll payments done using FASTag and this cashback offer is valid till March-2020. The cash back amount will be credited back in the tag-linked account on a monthly basis.

How is a FASTag transaction carried out?

The Transaction from the Toll Plaza is sent to the acquiring system. The Acquiring System validates these transactions and send it to NETC Switch. NPCI route these transactions to the respective Issuer Bank which in turn debit the tag holder account. Here is the step-wise process for the transaction:

  1. Whenever the vehicle passes through the ETC lane of the Toll Plaza, the Toll Plaza system captures the FASTag details like (Tag ID, TID, Vehicle class, etc.) and sends it to the Acquiring bank for processing.
  2. The Acquiring bank sends a request to the NETC Mapper to validate the tag details.
  3. Once the Tag ID is validated, NETC Mapper responds with details like Vehicle class, VRN, Tag Status etc. If the Tag ID is absent in NETC Mapper, it will respond that the Tag ID is not registered.
  4. After successful validation of Tag ID from NETC Mapper, acquirer host calculates the appropriate toll fare and initiate a debit request to NETC system.
  5. NETC System will switch the debit request to the respective issuer bank for debiting the account of the customer.
  6. Issuer host shall debit the linked tag holder account and sends a SMS alert to the tag holder. The Issuer host shall send the response message to NETC system. If the response is not sent within the defined TAT, the transaction are considered as Deemed Accepted.
  7. NETC system will notify the response to acquirer host.
  8. Acquirer host will notify to respective toll plaza system.

How to buy FASTags?

FASTags are issued by 23 NETC certified banks including some small finance banks, payments banks and co-operative banks. FAStags can also be obtained from select toll plazas, petrol pumps, RTOs, or online at Amazon.

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Alternatively, you can reach out to the Issuing Bank Customer Care numbers to identify the closest POS location. Please refer the respective issuer bank website.

Here is the list of member banks that issue FASTags:

List of NETC Member Banks issuing FASTags:

Member Banks Issuer Acquirer
Airtel Payments Bank Yes -
Axis Bank Ltd Yes Yes
Bank of Baroda Yes -
City Union Bank Ltd Yes -
EQUITAS SMALL FINANCE BANK Yes -
Federal Bank Yes -
FINO Payments Bank Yes -
HDFC Bank Yes Yes
ICICI Bank Yes Yes
IDFC FIRST Bank Yes Yes
Indusind Bank Yes Yes
Karur Vysya Bank Yes Yes
Kotak Mahindra Bank Yes Yes
Nagapur Nagarik Sahakari Bank Yes -
PAYTM Payments Bank Yes Yes
Punjab and Maharashtra Co-op Bank Yes -
Punjab National Bank Yes Yes
Saraswat Co-operative Bank Yes -
South Indian Bank Yes -
State Bank of India Yes Yes
Syndicate Bank Yes -
Union Bank of India Yes -
Yes Bank Ltd Yes -

What are the charges for FASTags?

FASTag is issued by Issuing Banks and charges are decided by Member banks as per their internal policy. However, the actual tag issuing charges are defined as 100/- rupees.

The charges are different for every bank and can be accessed on the member banks’ website.

What are the documents needed to apply for FASTag?

You need to submit the following documents along with the application for FASTag:

  • Registration Certificate (RC) of the vehicle
  • Passport size photograph of the vehicle owner  
  • KYC documents as per the category of the vehicle owner  

The issuing bank representative will provide an application form which needs to be filled and submitted. A valid driving license would be sufficient for Address & ID proof.

Benefits of using FASTag:

  • Ease of payment – No need to carry cash for the toll transactions, saves time
  • Online Recharge – Tag can be recharged online through Credit Card / Debit Card / UPI / NEFT or Net banking
  • SMS alerts for toll transactions, low balance
  • Online Portal for customers  

Important points to note about FASTag:

  • You can report an incorrect deduction by calling your Issuing Bank Customer Care Helpline number written on the FASTag. The Issuing Bank will review your request and if found correct, bank will revert the incorrect deduction.
  • You will receive an SMS alert on your registered phone number for each transaction and balance is deducted from your FASTag account. You can also check the toll fare on the NHAI website for your respective toll plazas.
  • You should report the damage or loss of tag to your bank and request for new tag. The balance amount of the old tag-linked account can be transferred to the new tag account.
  • In case of loss of vehicle, you can call your Issuing Bank customer care numbers and block your FASTag account.
  • Users will have to use the lanes demarcated for FASTag users. Only the marked lanes have the required RFID infrastructure installed to read your FASTag. In case you enter a cash-only lane, the FASTag will not be read and cash needs to be paid.
  • You can recharge your FASTag account by making payments online through Credit Card/ Debit Card/ NEFT/ UPI or Internet Banking.
  • The minimum recharge amount is Rs.100.
  • The tag has a validity of 5 years and after purchasing, you only need to recharge/ top up the tag as per your usage.