FASTag: All You Need To Know

In simple terms, (Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Fastag a small tag at the top-left corner of your vehicle's windscreen that lets you pass through all toll booths without coming to a halt. Essentially, the foremost purpose of a Fastag is to cut the travel time by eliminating the halt time at a toll booth and there quite a few benefits to it. To begin with private vehicles, people commuting in metro cities like Delhi-NCR or Mumbai and even those who often do intercity commute spend quite some time at toll booths and Fastag helps to save that time. That said, the real monetary benefit is for commercial vehicles that drive long distances or thousands of kilometres. Using a Fastag they don't need to que up at toll booths and that can save them as much as a day which not only reduces their fuel expenses and labour wage, but also aids to offer services at a competitive rate. Here's everything you need to know about the Fastag.

1. The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has made Fastags mandatory for all vehicles from December 1, 2019 under the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme which means from December 1, toll payments will be only through Fastags and vehicles that won't have Fastags will be charged double the fee to cross the toll booth.
2. The unique number of the RFID Tag affixed on the wind shield of the vehicle is read by the readers fitted in the dedicated 'ETC' lanes of plazas. The toll charge as per the class of the vehicle is automatically deducted from the prepaid RFID account of the user which works as an online wallet and can be topped-up just the way we put money in any other online wallet. Moreover, you also get 2.5 per cent cashback till March 2020, all the more reason to go for it.
   

   All lanes at national highways toll plazas will be converted to Fastag lanes by December 1, 2019,

3. Basic KYC details like name, contact number, vehicle's registration number and a copy of the registration certificate (RC) will be asked while purchasing the tag.
4. The dedicated ETC lanes have colour coding for distinct identity recognized as FASTags and they will be extended to all the lanes December 1 onwards. However, this will be applicable only to the tolls on national highways at the start and state toll plazas still need some more time to catch up due to some procedures and agreements. They rule is expected to extend to the State toll booths in March next year.
5. Commuters can enroll and get their FASTag badge affixed on their vehicles at designated toll tax plaza locations, the authorized service stations of their vehicle's make and at banks that provide the service.
6. Government has also partnered with several banks and financial institutions to provide Central Clearing House (CCH) services and RFID based FASTag through their franchises at sales counters/points near the toll plazas.
   

   Vehicles without the Fastag will be charged double the toll fee to cross the booth.

7. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also retails FASTags online on the NHAI, issuer Banks and Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) websites.
8. Customers purchasing the tags online will get it delivered to their door step just like they purchase any article from an online retailing platform.
9. In November 2016, the Government of India mandated all new vehicles to be feature Fastags on their windscreen and automobile manufacturers were asked to provide the same.
10. As far as old vehicles are concerned, they can get the Fastags imposed on their windscreens by their respective car dealers.
11. All functioning toll plazas at national highways across the nation have been equipped with Fastags at the start of this year.