New Delhi, 26 June (IANS). Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that Fastag Ecosystem has immense possibilities as the basis of not only tolling, but across the country as the basis of uninterrupted digital travel experiences.
Union Minister Gadkari said that through cooperation with Fintech and other stakeholders, our goal is to expand the utility of Fastag into a strong platform, which will increase the user’s convenience, streamlink transport and dynamics services and bring more efficiency to the region.
With 98.5 percent toll payment, the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) is operated on the Fastag Program 1,728 toll plaza (1,113 National Highway, 615 State Highway). In addition, more than 38 banks have issued 11.04 crore fastags supporting digital payments.
The central government announced the introduction of a fastag based annual pass for cars last week, which will be effective from August 15 this year.
To detect the innovative application of the fastag system, a workshop was organized by the National Highways and Management Company Limited (IHMCL) promoted by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the national capital.
The purpose of the workshop was to collect information from the leading fintech players on various aspects such as regulatory compliance, grievance redressal, security and non-toll applications of fastags to support the next phase of development.
Union Minister Gadkari said, “The performances and discussions held in this workshop will pave the way for digitally strong National Highway Network, which will benefit every passenger of the country.”
V. Umashankar, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said, “Fintech has been a bright place for India and has given us many innovations, while Fastag has changed the electronic toll collection in the country.”
According to NHAI President Santosh Kumar Yadav, the workshop will pave the way for future innovation, which will help us increase the scope and utility of the fastag system beyond toll collection.
“This is a great opportunity to create a future solution, which will meet the various requirements of the national highway users,” he said.
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