The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on April 15 directed all FASTag Issuer Banks to immediately validate Vehicle Registration Numbers (VRNs) linked to FASTags they have issued, after complaints surfaced that registration numbers captured by FASTag readers do not match those displayed on physical number plates.

The discrepancies, NHAI said, risk undermining enforcement mechanisms, enabling evasion of government revenue, and attracting penal action under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

A significant share of mismatched records is traced to FASTags issued before FASTag issuance was integrated with the VAHAN database — a period when validation relied more on manual processes, leaving vehicle identification records open to inconsistencies.

NHAI has directed issuer banks to blacklist any FASTag found linked to an incorrect or invalid VRN, in line with existing government guidelines. Banks have been asked to treat the verification as urgent.

The directive carries added weight given NHAI's planned shift to Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) tolling, under which enforcement actions — including the issuance of electronic notices to non-compliant vehicles — will depend entirely on accurate vehicle identification data.