Disclaimer: Education only. Toll rules are amended often. Check the current rules on the MoRTH website and project fee notifications before relying on any figure.
In simple words (if you are in class 10)
A toll is like a ticket for using a very good road. The government's rule book, the National Highways Fee Rules, 2008, says how much each kind of vehicle pays. Bigger and heavier vehicles pay more because they wear the road out faster. Prices go up a little every 1 April, a bit like a bus pass that costs slightly more each year.
You no longer pay in cash at most plazas. A small sticker on the windscreen, the FASTag, lets a reader at the plaza take the money from your bank account. Soon, cameras and satellites may work out your toll from the distance you drive, so there will be no barrier to stop at.
The professional view
1. The legal base
- National Highways Act, 1956 (section 7) lets the government levy fees for the use of national highways, bridges and bypasses.
- National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008 set base rates per km by vehicle class, the annual revision, exemptions, discounts and how fees are collected. Each plaza has its own fee notification in the Gazette.
- For BOT and TOT projects, the concession agreement gives the concessionaire the right to collect and keep the fee. For publicly funded roads (EPC), the authority or its toll contractor collects it.
2. How the rate is built
Plaza fee (class c) = base rate per km (c) × length of the section (with bridge and bypass rules)
× annual revision factor, rounded to the nearest ₹5
- Base rates are set per km for each class: car/jeep/van, LCV, bus/truck, 3-axle commercial, 4 to 6 axle (HCM/EME) and 7 or more axles.
- Each year from 1 April: a fixed 3% increase (not compounded) on the base rate, plus a WPI-linked part limited to 40% of the change in WPI (rule 5; see Toll revenue, traffic and concessions for the sources and the linking factor).
- For publicly funded sections, the fee drops to 40% once the capital cost is recovered, and a second plaza in the same direction generally cannot be within 60 km, subject to exceptions.
- Discounts for return journeys and multiple trips, and monthly passes for local users, are in the Rules. Exempt categories (for example ambulances, fire services, defence vehicles and listed dignitaries) are also listed.
3. FASTag and NETC
- FASTag is a passive RFID tag linked to a bank account or wallet. Tags are issued by banks, with NPCI running the NETC switch and IHMCL (an NHAI company) running the programme (IHMCL).
- Mandatory since 15/16 February 2021. A vehicle without a valid tag in a FASTag lane pays double the fee.
- Since 15 November 2025, a vehicle without a working FASTag pays 2 times the fee in cash but 1.25 times if it pays by UPI, under the Fee (Third Amendment) Rules, 2025 notified on 3 October 2025 (SCC Times).
- Scale: NETC data showed toll collections of about ₹20,682 crore in April to June 2025, up 19.6% year on year, on 1,173 million transactions (The Tribune). This figure covers national and state highways.
4. The FASTag annual pass
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who | Private non-commercial cars, jeeps and vans with a valid FASTag |
| What | One year or 200 plaza crossings, whichever comes first, at about 1,150 national highway and expressway plazas |
| Price | ₹3,000 from 15 August 2025; ₹3,075 for FY 2026-27 from 1 April 2026 (NBM&CW) |
| Where to buy | Rajmarg Yatra app or the NHAI website (beware of look-alike sites) |
| Users | Over 56 lakh by early 2026 (same source) |
How concessionaires are paid for annual-pass trips. MoRTH treats the scheme as a change in law for projects whose bid due date was before 17 June 2025. NHAI's SOP of 17 October 2025 sets a daily compensation of A × NAP × F: a plaza constant (A, set from IHMCL's electronic toll data), the number of annual-pass transactions within MoRTH's limits (NAP, from NPCI data), and the one-way fare (F). Amounts are worked out on an online portal and paid weekly, with a quarterly reconciliation, under a supplementary agreement to the concession (Fox Mandal). The mechanism can be reviewed from 31 March 2026.
Analyst view. Before the compensation details were known, Crisil estimated the pass could cut toll operators' revenue by 4% to 8% (Autocar Pro). With compensation in place, what matters is the plaza constant, the timing of weekly receipts and any later review.
5. GNSS distance-based tolling
The September 2024 amendment to the Fee Rules allows tolling by Global Navigation Satellite System on-board units. Dedicated GNSS lanes come with a double fee for vehicles that enter without a working unit. Vehicles without a National Permit pay no fee for the first 20 km each way per day, and then pay for the actual distance travelled (News On AIR, 10 Sep 2024).
Why it matters for investors. Distance-based tolling changes the revenue base from plaza crossings to kilometres driven. That can help long-distance sections and hurt sections with heavy short-distance local traffic. Any change will run through the change-in-law clause of each concession.
6. Multi-lane free flow (MLFF)
India's first barrier-free MLFF system, with number-plate cameras plus FASTag, went live on the Surat–Bharuch stretch of NH-48 in Gujarat in 2026 (Drishti, May 2026). Enforcement for vehicles without a tag, number-plate quality and a legal basis for e-notices are the practical issues to watch.
7. KPIs for a tolling finance team
- Electronic share of collection and the leakage rate
- Double-fee and UPI 1.25x collections (a sign of tag compliance)
- Annual-pass transactions, compensation billed against received, and the age of unreconciled amounts
- Exempt-traffic share and local-pass share
- Violations and chargebacks from the acquiring bank
Our free Toll revenue and traffic MIS template tracks most of these.
Sources
- IHMCL FASTag user page: https://ihmcl.co.in/fastag-user/
- NETC FASTag status (NPCI): https://www.npci.org.in/netcfastag-status
- Fee (Third Amendment) Rules 2025: SCC Times
- Annual pass fee 2026-27: NBM&CW
- Annual pass compensation SOP: Fox Mandal
- GNSS amendment: News On AIR
Education only. This page is not investment, tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not recommend buying, selling or holding any security. Laws and rules change: check the linked primary source and consult a qualified professional before acting.
Last reviewed 25 October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.