New FASTag rules: NHAI offers big relief to vehicle owners

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has offered a big relief to vehicle owners who often take to national highways for commute. The new FASTag rules were implemented from Monday (February 17) revealed that vehicles with blacklisted FASTags or FASTags with inadequate balance will be charged with penalties at toll gates across highways in India. The rules were implemented by the the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which handles digital toll payments. However, the NHAI has clarified the new rules will not impact highways users.

Earlier this week, the NPCI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued fresh guidelines highlighting major changes in FASTag rules. FASTag is the mandated mode of payment at toll gates across all national highways in India. To ensure smooth flow of traffic and better user experience, the new rules said that blacklisted FASTags or tages without sufficient balance could be charged double the toll fee.

New FASTag rules: NHAI clarifies double fee penalty

NHAI has issued a clarification saying that a user's experience on highway toll plazas will not be impacted due to the new FASTag rules and guidelines. According to the NHAI, the NPCI guidelines for FASTag is aimed at disputes between banks in which customers do not have a role to play. The new rules have been implemented to ensure digital transactions at toll gates are settled within an accepted time frame so that commuters are not harassed.

The NHAI issued a statement on the impact of new FASTag rules on customers. It clarifies the point where defaulters will be charged double the toll fee. The statement reads, “The circular has been issued by NPCI to facilitate resolution of disputes between acquirer bank and issuer bank on FASTag status while vehicle crosses toll plazas."

The NHAI also said that FASTag customers can recharge their tags any time before crossing a toll booth. It said that all the toll plazas on national highways offers real-time tag status.Some of the state highways are yet to implement the same protocol used by national highways. The efforts to implement the same protocol for state highways is currently underway.

New FASTag rules: What NPCI said

The new FASTag rules will decline transaction by any user whose tag has been blacklisted for more than an hour before reaching a toll plaza. The rule will be also applicable for tags that were blacklisted even 10 minutes before hitting the toll gates. For such violations, a FASTag user may have to pay double toll charges. The users will have a window of 70 minutes to top-up the FASTag balance before reaching toll gate.

The new FASTag rules also address concerns for those who have recharged the tag within 10 minutes of scanning. The rules say in such cases, one can request for a refund of the fine. For wrongly blacklisted or low-balance FASTags, the issuing banks can initiate chargebacks for incorrect deductions after a gap of 15 days.

The new rules will also crackdown on FASTag users if toll transactions take more than 15 minutes to process after the vehicle passes through the toll barrier. In such cases too, the FASTag users may have to shell out more.

What is FASTag?

The One Nation One Tag - FASTag scheme was launched across the country in December of 2019 with the stated aim to smoothen passage of vehicles through toll collection points on all highways in the country. It was also seen as a boost to a cashless economy. FASTag is mandatory for all vehicles in India, regardless of age or classification. And it has indeed helped quicken the pace of road travel through toll plazas, improved transparency and increase collection figures.

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