Mumbai, September 2026 : India is set to move towards a fully digital and barrier-free highway tolling system by February, under which motorists will no longer have to stop at toll plazas to pay fees, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.
Addressing the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, Gadkari said the government was working to integrate FASTag with vehicle number-plate recognition technology as part of the next phase of technology-driven toll collection.
According to the minister, the new system could significantly increase toll revenues while making highway travel faster and more convenient.
“The tolling systems that we will implement where the number plate and FASTag both will be used will lead to an incremental increase of Rs 10,000 crore in toll revenues annually,” Gadkari said.
He noted that FASTag had already brought down waiting times at toll plazas by 80-90 per cent. Waiting periods that earlier extended to around 12 minutes, and in some cases up to 30 minutes, have been substantially reduced following the widespread adoption of electronic tolling.
The government is now seeking to eliminate the remaining delays by introducing a system that allows vehicles to pass through toll points without stopping.
The proposed mechanism will use information from both FASTag and vehicle number plates to identify and track vehicles travelling on tolled highway stretches. The integration is expected to strengthen toll collection and improve the efficiency of the system.
Gadkari said FASTag had transformed toll payments by reducing dependence on cash and eliminating the need for motorists to keep exact change while crossing toll plazas. The technology has also made toll collection more seamless, transparent and efficient.
FASTag was introduced in 2016 as part of efforts to modernise India's highway tolling infrastructure. It uses radio-frequency identification technology to automatically deduct the applicable toll amount from an account linked to the vehicle's FASTag as it passes through a toll plaza.
The government made FASTag mandatory in 2021, accelerating India's transition from cash-based toll payments to electronic toll collection across the national highway network.
Gadkari said the benefits of mandatory FASTag adoption were already evident and that the country was now ready to move towards the next stage of tolling technology.
Under the proposed barrier-free system, motorists are expected to be able to travel through tolling points without stopping for payment. The combination of FASTag and number-plate recognition is aimed at ensuring accurate identification of vehicles while reducing congestion and improving traffic flow.
The minister's announcement at the fintech conference highlighted the expanding role of digital technologies in transforming public infrastructure and services.
The shift towards barrier-free tolling is also expected to improve the overall highway travel experience by reducing queues, saving motorists' time and making toll collection more technology-driven.
Gadkari's target of implementing the new system by February marks another major step in India's transition towards fully digital highway payments and automated toll management.
