Travelling on highways and paying at the toll plazas will change from the 1st of December. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) has made a decision wherein it will be necessary for all the vehicles to install a FASTag on the windscreens. Please note, if you do not have a FASTag affixed on the vehicles, you will have to pay double the charges as the ministry will get the lanes changed to FASTag-only lanes from December.
In the FASTag lane, there is a scanner fixed on top, as your vehicle approaches the toll, the scanner reads the electronic tags, and let you cross the toll gate.
Where to buy the FASTag
One can easily buy FASTags from e-commerce website like Amazon.in or from Paytm, however, you can also buy FASTags from select banks like SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank at some of their select branches. If you are reading this article late, or do not have time to visit the branch, you can also buy the electronic tag at PoS (Point of Sale) counters at toll plazas.
Documentations required
In order to obtain a FASTag for your vehicle, you will be required to submit certain KYC documents like
RC (Registration Certificate) of the vehicle
Passport size photo of the owner
KYC documents of the owner
Once you buy the FASTag, you will have to activate it, one can easily activate it by entering your and your vehicle’s details on the MY FASTag mobile application.
Cost of FASTag
When you buy a FASTag, you will be asked to pay Rs. 100 as one time fee which includes GST, additionally, it is mandatory to maintain of Rs. 200 as security deposit (which is refundable) for the vehicles. Apart from this, you will also have to maintain a minimum balance of Rs. 100.
Please note: The security deposit can reach upto Rs. 400, depending upon the size of your vehicle.
How to recharge FASTag
One can choose to link the electronic tag directly with the bank account, or use FASTag wallet to recharge the FASTag. The minimum recharge amount is Rs. 100.
If you are a full KYC holder, you can add upto Rs. 1 lakhs to your FASTag prepaid account, but if you are a limited KYC holder, you cannot add more than Rs. 10,000. You get different options to pay from, like Credit Card, UPI, Net Banking, Debit Card just to name a few.
To recharge, you can log in to your FASTag portal by either using your user ID or wallet ID and password. As you log in, you will see an option of ‘payment and top up’. As you click on it, you will see ‘Recharge’, just select the wallet ID to which you want to add funds using above mentioned methods.
Benefits of FASTag
FASTag are built on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, which allows its users make cashless payments at toll plazas directly from their e-wallets and bank accounts. This will help reduce the traffic at these plazas as vehicles will not have to stop to pay and get the receipt along with the change (which sometimes take ages).
Right now, IHMCL (Indian Highway Management Company Limited) is offering a cashback of upto 2.5% at all National Highway’s Toll Plazas.
