Satellite-based toll collection system likely by March, Gadkari says

In a bid to ease traffic on roads and reduce toll collection expenses, India is likely to introduce a satellite-based toll collection system on national highways by March 2024, the Road, Highways and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Rajya Sabha today.

The pilot of the satellite-based toll collection has already been completed on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor. 

“Presently the expenditure for toll collection through FASTag is 12%. By the new system, we will reduce this expenditure to 2-3%,” Gadkari said. The government plans to implement the new toll collection system through a joint venture between public sector banks and technology service providers. 

“A Consultant has been appointed to provide advisory services on implementation of new technologies like Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based barrier less free flow tolling,” Gadkari said in a written reply in parliament last week. 

The new toll collection system could eventually end the role of toll plazas and tolls could be charged based on the distance traveled at the highway exit. 

The current toll collection at plazas through the FASTag system started in 2016-2017 and the government mandated all lanes of the fee plazas to be FASTag lanes from 2021.  

Gadkari noted that the average waiting time at toll plazas has reduced to around 47 seconds from 8 minutes with the introduction of the FASTag system. 

Toll plazas collected Rs 36,377.79 crore as fees during April-November this year, while it fetched Rs 48,028.19 crore in 2022-2023, according to the data tabled in the parliament. Around 99% of the toll collection currently happens through FASTag.  

The total length of national highways in the country is about 146,145 km at present. The government has the 2023-2024 road construction target at 14,000 km.