National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced that Mumbai is now FASTag ready with the city’s three of the major toll plazas – Airoli, Mulund Eastern Express Way and Mulund (LBS Marg) – recently went live on NETC FASTag platform. Rajiv Gandhi Sea link plaza and Vashi Toll plaza have already enabled the platform, providing seamless, on-the-go toll payments experience. The implementation work at Dahisar toll plaza is underway and is expected to go live soon. ICICI Bank is the first bank to integrate with the FASTag technology at plazas at Vashi, Airoli, Mulund Eastern Express Way, Mulund (LBS Marg) and Dahisar. The Bank will continue to work closely with MEP Infrastructure, operator of the toll plazas, to bring in the best practices implemented at national highways. The Bank was the first to launch the innovative service of FASTag nationally, on the Mumbai – Vadodara corridor, way back in 2013.
As the entries to the city are now enabled on FASTag platform, NPCI is also expecting all parking lots in the city to gradually adopt 100% smart and contactless parking with this unique platform. A few months ago the FASTag led contactless car parking was introduced at Hyderabad International Airport. This system is now playing a significant role in reducing queues at the entry and exit of the parking lot, thereby offering convenient parking payments experience to customers.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway toll plaza, which is already on the platform since its inception, has also now migrated to latest technological specifications, making inter-city travel experience seamless for commuters. Recently, the current concessionaire of electronic toll collection, IRB Infrastructure Developers, has also provided four dedicated FASTag lanes for Cars (two in each direction) at Khalapur and Talegaon toll plazas of Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway sections.
Vijay Waghmare IAS (JMD, MSRDC) said, “Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has pioneered in furthering the NETC FASTag solution since inception of the programme. Mumbai-Pune expressway, Satara-Kagal, and now Sea Link & Mumbai Entry Point plazas are running on the NETC FASTag solution. We look forward to enable the Dahisar toll plaza, post metro work completion. This will make Mumbai city the first city to go completely cashless across all tolls. Our next step is to increase the penetration of FASTags. This digital transformation will introduce transparency and ensure complete contactless and safe travel for the commuter. MSRDC requests all commuters to install FASTags on their vehicles and ensure sufficient cash balance in the FASTag”.
Sudipta Roy, Business Head, ICICI Bank said, “We, at ICICI Bank, are proud to be associated with the integration of FASTag technology at Mumbai toll plazas The FASTag implementation at these toll plazas is helping millions of commuters to zip through the plazas without stopping to pay toll. We are also collaborating with various partners to implement FASTag at malls and airports. As part of this, we are working with NPCI to deploy FASTag-based contactless parking solution at malls and airports across key cities in the country. We have already implemented this facility at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport.”
Abhijit Kamalapurkar, Head – Transaction Banking, IDFC FIRST Bank, said, “Contactless payments are on the rise with commuters rapidly shifting to everything digital. At IDFC FIRST Bank, we are using innovative technologies that make payments simpler, faster and safer for commuters. The IDFC FIRST FASTag is enabling thousands of commuters to pay on-the-go across multiple touchpoints. The onboarding process for FASTag is also made seamless and completely digitized so that commuters can buy tags from the comfort of their homes. We are pleased to partner MSRDC and NPCI in an initiative that embraces technology and brings huge convenience to commuters in the maximum city.”
Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, “Implementation of FASTag on nearly all the toll plazas of Mumbai demonstrates awareness and acceptance of FASTag among millions of commuters. We are glad to see rapid adoption of FASTag in the city which is offering safe and contactless toll payments experience to commuters. We are also looking at enabling parking lots with FASTag. With gaining momentum of FASTag across the country, we are confident that it will scale newer heights. We at NPCI are constantly working towards not only enhancing toll transactions experience for commuters but also making their car parking payments completely safe and contactless with the interoperability of FASTag.”
In November 2020, the transaction count of NETC FASTag stood at 124.88 million with transaction value Rs. 2102.02 crore, compared to 122.36 million transactions worth Rs. 2137.16 crore in October 2020.
NETC FASTag is a simple to use, reloadable tag fixed on the windscreen of a vehicle which enables automatic deduction of toll charges from the linked prepaid or savings to account while the vehicle is in motion. A user receives an SMS alerts on his registered mobile number for all the transactions done in his tag account. The vehicle with NETC FASTag doesn’t need to stop at toll plazas for toll payment, saving fuel and travel time.
NETC FASTag can also be purchased at toll plazas, select bank branches and online through e-commerce platforms. It can be recharged online through all payment channels including BHIM UPI, BBPS and debit & credit cards.
For more information, visit: https://www.npci.org.in/netc/
