FASTag annual pass contributes to 12% of National Highway trips within 3 months of launch

Fastag annual pass account for 12% of the volume

FASTag annual pass has been an instant success, with the product now accounting for 11 per cent of the monthly volume on the country's national highways, according to data on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) website.

Launched on August 15, the annual pass worth Rs 3,000 gives customers toll-free access up to 200 trips through National Highways in a year, translating into Rs 15 per toll passing, considerably cheaper than the regular fares.

In October, annual pass volumes stood at 433 lakh compared with 3,609 lakh transactions using regular FASTag, which turns out to be 11 percent of the total tips.

The growth momentum continued into November as well, with the percentage share rising to 12 percent daily.

During November, the daily annual pass volume average stood at 16 lakh, whereas in October the daily average stood at 14 lakh, a clear uptick considering that the last month might have seen a festive bump.

However, the adoption has clearly dented the daily toll collection value, with the average figure for October at Rs 215 crore compared to Rs 227 crore in August.

"The upswing now will be limited as FASTag is only available for passenger cars, and the more frequent highway users might have already availed the passes. For many local users, there is a local pass. Since other frequent users, such as taxis or commercial vehicles, cannot buy these annual passes, the adoption is likely to slow down," said an industry executive who did not wish to be identified.

The cumulative toll collection value stood at Rs 6,685 crore in October compared with Rs 7,053 crore in August, despite last month having the advantage of festive sales, holiday movements, as well as lower GST rates to boost consumption of goods and services.

Meanwhile, November has seen a clear uptick in the daily average of both value and volume until the 12th of the month, with both value and volume higher than in October.

To be sure, the numbers for a few days of a month may not be strictly comparable, as holidays, weekends tend to skew the data downwards. The first few days of October, for instance, had Durgashtami, Mahanavami, Vijaydashmi and Gandhi Jayanti holidays apart from a weekend, which might have pulled the volumes and value down.

Most payment methods tend to hit their monthly highs during the first few days of the month because of salary, EMI payments and so on. And consumers tend to make a lot of purchases soon after their salary is credited.

The FASTag annual pass is a convenient option for regular travellers on specific Indian highways or expressways. Intended to offer unlimited travel on specified toll roads, it charges once for the entire year to eliminate the need for per-trip charges.

With FASTag becoming the unavoidable norm at most toll plazas throughout the country, the annual pass provides greater convenience and economical benefits to high-frequency users.