New Delhi, India’s Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, announced on Thursday that the country’s conventional toll plaza system will be fully replaced by an electronic toll collection mechanism within the next year, eliminating the need for vehicles to stop at highway toll booths.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Mr Gadkari stated: “This [physical] toll system will end. There will be no one to stop you in the name of toll. Within a year, electronic toll collection will be implemented across the country.”
The minister revealed that the new system, built around the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) platform operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has already been rolled out at ten locations and will be extended nationwide over the coming twelve months.
At the heart of the initiative is FASTag, an RFID-based device affixed to vehicle windscreens that enables automatic deduction of toll fees from linked prepaid or bank accounts as vehicles pass through equipped plazas without halting.
The move is expected to significantly reduce congestion on India’s national highways, improve fuel efficiency, and lower vehicular emissions at toll points.
Mr Gadkari also noted that 4,500 highway projects with a combined value of ₹10 lakh crore (approximately $118 billion) are currently under way, underscoring the government’s continued heavy investment in transport infrastructure.
The NETC programme, which offers interoperability across all participating highway operators, has seen rapid adoption since its nationwide launch in 2019, with FASTag now mandatory for all four-wheelers on national highways.
The announcement marks the latest step in India’s broader push towards digitisation of public infrastructure and cashless transactions on its road network.
