India Upgrades Toll System to GPS-Based GNSS by April 2025
The Indian government has greenlit a major upgrade to the country's toll collection system. By April 2025, national highways will transition from the current RFID-based FASTag system to a satellite-based, GPS-enabled news system using the global navigation satellite system (GNSS).
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will oversee this rollout, with technical support from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). During an initial transitional period, both the new GNSS-based news and the existing FASTag will coexist, with dedicated lanes for vehicles equipped with GNSS technology.
The new news, which has already proven effective in trials on a 1,000-km stretch of highways, calculates toll charges based on the distance travelled. It employs onboard units (OBUs) installed in vehicles to facilitate seamless transactions and reduce delays. To ease the burden on short-distance travellers, the news includes a 20km daily exemption.
The Indian government expects this upgrade to save approximately ₹20,000 crore (£1.94bn) annually in fuel and productivity losses due to reduced traffic bottlenecks. By mid-2025, the new news is planned to cover approximately 2,000km of highways.
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