No more waiting at toll plazas soon; NHAI plans e-tolling

MUMBAI: The National Highways Authority of India has approached the National Payments Corporation of India to set up an interbank clearing house to enable e-tolling across 350 toll plazas in the country.

The move is expected to help the country save thousands of crores of rupees annually in fuel consumption and speed up freight. The measure will help reduce congestion at toll gates and curb malpractices.

"We have been approached by NHAI to build a trading house for ETC (electronic toll collection) payments," AP Hota, managing director of NPCI told ET.

"We have sought RBI's approval to build an interbank clearing system. So far, it was a closed loop system between NHAI and ICICI Bank. But once we step in it would be an interbank clearing system. Every bank will issue the tolling card to their customers."

The implementation of a pan-India electronic toll collection system on national highways may help save Rs 87,000 crore, according to a joint study by the Transport Corporation of India and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. The study said that the length of time at toll points adds up to a cost of Rs 27,000 crore a year. And the extra fuel spent on slowing down and stopping at checkpoints amounts to an additionalRs 60,000 crore.

Total automation of toll collection across the country is expected to reduce average waiting time at toll plazas by 10 minutes.

In September 2014, the government had launched India's first electronic toll collection programme under the brand name 'FASTag'. The ministry had brought in ICICI bank and Axis Bank for providing central clearing house services and to distribute radio-frequency identification or RFID-based FASTag through their franchises at points of sales near the toll plazas.

National Highways Authority of India