Fastags can now be used to buy fuel wirelessly!

The Indian government will soon make Fastags for all the old and new vehicles mandatory. Fastags can only be used for paying tolls on the highways in India. However, soon an update will allow the users of Fastags to pay for fuel too.

IDFC First Bank has become the first institution to get approval from RBI to use the Fastags as a payment method at the fuel pumps. This will be available with a new version of the Fastag, however, the name of the product is yet to be finalised. According to HBL, the new Fastag is internally known as the Fastag version 2.0. This will create a seamless way for the highway users to pay for the services. Truckers, who are a regular on the highways will find this very convenient.

The current government in the centre has been promoting cashless transactions for a long time now. With the new Fastag version, it will be a breeze to go through the highways. Most of the cash transactions happen at the tolls and the fuel stations on the highways, with the new Fastags, all these can happen without cash transaction, which will increase the efficiency and reduce the time spent on exchanging cash.

Cash transactions require a lot of time. Since there is physical money exchanged, the money needs to be counted and then checked if they are counterfeit. Then, of course, there is change involved which takes time too. This increases the waiting time, especially at the toll booths. The use of the Fastags is promoted to reduce the waiting time at the toll booths. The Fastags use contactless systems that communicate with the device mounted at the toll booths. These prepaid Fastags give exactly the amount the balance remains in the account.

The government has made it mandatory for all the existing and new vehicles to have Fastag from 1st December 2019. This will ensure that toll traffic moves quicker at the tolls booths. There are more than 450 toll plazas on the National Highways in India. Various agencies including NHAI, IHMCL and the ministry are working together to make the Fastags widely acceptable throughout all the toll plazas in India. There are different agencies who collect the toll money from the tolls on the national highways and state highways. The agencies have offered to share the half to cost of setting up a toll booth in the future if the toll booth accepts payments through Fastag. The exact number of toll booths in India is not known at the moment.

While the Fastags will be mandatory in the vehicle, it does not mean that the cash transactions will be void at the toll booths. All the booths will continue to accept the cash and other forms of payments too.

Also Read: Fastags can now be used to buy fuel wirelessly!