Annual FASTag Pass: A boon for millions of Indian Drivers
A vast country as diverse as India has a road network of more than 6.7 million km, ranging from national highways to state highways and other roads. According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) data for March 2025, out of this total road length, national highways account for 1,46,207 km, while state highways account for 1,79,535 km. Of. The remaining 60,19,723 km is covered. There are other roads. At present, there are a total of 1228 toll plazas located on these national and state highways, on which toll tax is collected from private vehicles. This work is now being done through FASTags which are affixed on the front windshield of cars or other private vehicles.
When the vehicle passes through these toll plazas, the fee itself is deducted and the congestion on them is less. Earlier, the tariff points used to be crowded and passengers sometimes had to stand in queue for hours. Kamal Nath, who was the Minister of Surface Transport in the second term of the Manmohan Singh government, had first paid attention to this and in 2012 he had announced that soon he would issue such a card for the vehicles traveling on the roads of India like the developed countries, after which the barrier of the fee plaza would be automatically removed and the fee would be deducted directly from this card. Vehicle owners will link this card to their bank account and will be able to recharge when the FASTag money is exhausted.
From 2021, FASTag has been made mandatory for private vehicles, failing which they will have to pay double the cash fee. This system is running smoothly in India. The credit for this can be given to Nitin Gadkari, the Surface Transport Minister of the present Modi government. In India, the government is a continuous process which is formed after every five years. So this is the success story of the tenure from Kamal Nath to Nitin Gadkari. But now there is a flaw in this system and a huge crowd of vehicles is being seen at the toll plazas. The reason for this is that the number of four-wheelers in India has increased to seven crores while the number of two-wheelers is more than 21 crores.
Out of the total population of 140 crore in India, 21 crore people own two-wheelers and seven crore own cars. Foot-operated bicycles are rarely seen in villages. While these do not include commercial motor vehicles. Their number in India is also in crores. Now Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is improving this system and is giving the facility to charge the FASTag card from three thousand rupees for a year. If a private vehicle passes through 200 toll plazas in a year, then it will not have to stop at the toll plaza because of the 3000 card. This will also reduce the cost of the vehicle owner. The toll limit has been set at 200. This means that two hundred plazas and whichever is less in a year will be valid.
The FASTag card can be recharged again when the limit of crossing two hundred tolls is reached. But it is to be noted that this system will be applicable only on national highways, while toll plazas on state highways will run according to the rules made by the state government. Out of a total of 1228 toll plazas, the number of national highway tolls is around 750, while FASTag is also valid at 100 regional toll plazas. The rest of the tariff sites charge in cash.
The formula for converting FASTag into annual pass will benefit seven crore private vehicle drivers and make their travel smoother. This system will be implemented across the country from August 15. Although the FASTag system was operational from 2014, it was made mandatory in 2021. This was done in view of the increasing congestion on the highways. The fact is that national highways still constitute only 2 per cent of the total road length in India but carry 40 per cent of the total freight traffic in India. From this, it can be easily estimated that there will be a traffic congestion on the highways in India. Due to this, the trend of express routes is also increasing in different states. This is the reason why nowadays any person who buys a new car brings out a FASTag from the showroom on his vehicle.
We can also consider it a boon of economic liberalization or market economy that today the number of private vehicles in India is so high. Because when India became independent, the number of private vehicles was in thousands, which has now increased to crores. The automobile revolution in India has started since the 90s. The market-oriented economy has empowered the middle income class of the country very fast.
By getting loans from banks, now the ordinary middle class person can take pride in owning his own car. The same is the case in the residential sector. The younger generation is also realizing the dream of their own house by taking loans from banks. All this is the wonder of the new economy. By the way, the government sector company Maruti has played a major role in creating or developing the car market in India and by producing a Maruti car, the ordinary middle class person has been spared the privilege of having his own car.
Now this phase has also been completed and almost every foreign car company in India is producing its cars. The year-long FASTag pass can be said to be part of this entire process as it allows the private car owner to pass through the toll plazas at an affordable rate. If 200 fee plazas are crossed in a year, then it is at the rate of Rs 15 per toll. Therefore, it is expected that just as FASTag became popular, this FASTag pass will also be popular among private vehicle owners. It will not be necessary to buy a new FASTag for this. Only the current FASTag can be converted into an annual pass as per rules. We know that a network of new roads is being laid in the country and Nitin Gadkari is also known for this. Therefore, toll plazas will also increase and private vehicles will also increase on them.