Barrier-less tolling expected to boost collection by ₹10,000 cr: Gadkari

The barrier-less tolling system is expected to increase India’s highway toll collection by another ~10,000 crore through a transparent, seamless, and leak-proof mechanism, according to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026 in New Delhi on Friday, Gadkari informed that his ministry is targeting barrier-free national highways through the multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling system by February-March 2027.  He added that MLFF will be rolled out at 60-70 per cent of the country’s toll plazas by December.

Earlier, India’s toll collection grew from ~660.67 crore in the financial year 2017 (FY17) to ~64,603.12 crore in FY25 and to ~82,589.9 crore in FY26 over 2,000 toll plazas with digital toll collection. The minister said MLFF could reduce toll plaza operation and maintenance costs to 2-3 per cent from the current 12-15 per cent, resulting in savings of ~6,000-7,000 crore.

“Previous waiting time at toll plazas on highways was 12-30 minutes. We have been able to improve it by 80-90 per cent, and are now trying to bring it down to 10 seconds or less. This will result in saving fuel, time, and sustainable development,” Gadkari said.

According to the minister, quicker adoption of tolling technology is expected to save 71 crore hours at toll plazas and 56 crore litres of fuel worth ~5,250 crore annually, while the economic value of the time saved is estimated at ~68,500 crore a year. 

“If we see from NETC FASTag and the current tolling system, the Indian government will be benefitting a minimum of ~20,000-25,000 crore per year from our department alone. It is because of technological innovation,” the minister added.

Marking 10 years of FASTag, Gadkari called it a “success story”. “A successful example of physical infrastructure and digital payments’ integration,” he added. Gadkari said that FASTag boosted India’s toll collections by ~10,000 crore because it closed the loopholes in the system.

He launched a new FASTag portability feature, OneTag, where users can switch to their preferred issuing bank with zero tag replacement and without having to apply for a new FASTag. The process will be fully digital and can be completed through the Rajmarg Yatra app with digital KYC and wallet setup.

Further, he called for futuristic digital research on data usage, inviting recommendations from fintech players. “We have digitised 16 transport services using the VAHAN data. India has a strong digital foundation – UPI, Aadhaar, FASTag, and VAHAN. The next step is connecting these digital capabilities in one connected ecosystem to drive intelligent mobility,” he added.

The minister said that real-time payment settlement between multiple stakeholders is equally important. He said there are massive opportunities for fintech players in tolling and vehicle usage-based insurance.

“Earlier, only national banks had an opportunity. Then we included cooperative banks. Now fintech companies have also been included in line with RBI rules. My wish is to dilute this stakeholder landscape further and have more competition, which will help us to get better pricing and people to get better services,” Gadkari said.

The minister informed that his department is thinking about an incentive where a lower insurance premium will be charged for good driving.

“We are promoting penalties for rash driving and for not following rules and have created a Bill for the Parliament on the same to promote good driving culture and road safety,” he added.