Tech, service firms gear up for FASTag as govt extends deadline to Dec 15

While the transport ministry has given a two-week extension to the roll-out of electronic toll collection — FASTags — across the national highways, tech companies and service providers are all set to switch to this mechanism.

Several tech companies said sales of FASTags have almost tripled in the last few days. Service providers have also bolstered their backend tech to tackle any sort of lag caused by surge in usage of these at toll booths.

Fintech giant Paytm claimed it is selling more FASTags than all the banks put together on a daily basis. As a part of the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme, Paytm Payments Bank has tied up with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to enable easy passage of vehicles across NHAI toll plazas.“Paytm Payments Bank is also the acquiring bank for more than 110 toll plazas in India. We plan to acquire another 100 toll plazas in the coming year,” the company said.