NPCI circular has no impact on FASTag customer experience: Centre

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said that a recent circular issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has no impact on the overall FASTag customer experience.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) issued a clarification after reports surfaced, citing the NPCI circular dated January 28, regarding the change in FASTag rules which reportedly declines transactions on FASTags which are not active for more than 60 minutes prior to read time and up to 10 minutes after read time.

“The Circular has been issued by NPCI to facilitate resolution of disputes between Acquirer Bank and Issuer Bank on FASTag status while vehicle crosses Toll Plazas,” the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.

The circular also aims to ensure that the FASTag transactions are created within a reasonable time of vehicle passing a toll plaza so that customers are not harassed by late transactions.

“All National Highway Toll Plazas operate on ICD 2.5 protocol which gives real-time tag status, hence the FASTag customers can recharge any time before crossing the toll plaza,” the ministry said.

Some toll plazas on state highways are still on ICD 2.4 protocol which needs regular updates of tag status.

“It is being planned to shift all such Toll plazas to ICD 2.5 protocol, shortly,” the NHAI said.

The FASTag customers are encouraged to link their FASTag wallet to UPI/Current/Saving Accounts under the auto-recharge setting to eliminate the need for manual recharges.

Customers can continue to recharge their FASTag any time before reaching the toll, using a variety of payment channels such as UPI, net banking, and more, according to the NHAI.

New FASTag rules to streamline the user experience at toll plazas came into force this week.

According to the latest NPCI data, FASTag transactions grew by 6 per cent in December last year to 382 million, against 359 million in November.

The value also increased by 9 per cent to Rs 6,642 crore in December against Rs 6,070 crore in November.

—IANS