To make electronic toll collection transparent and easy on national highways and expressways across the country, the Central Government and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) have made FASTag mandatory for every four-wheeler and heavy vehicle. This question often comes in the minds of drivers that if they have two cars in their house, can they use the same Fastag interchangeably in both the cars? The simple and clear answer to this is-no way. As per the Motor Vehicle Rules and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) guidelines, a FASTag is issued to one and only one registered vehicle. Removing Fastag from one vehicle and pasting it on the windscreen of another vehicle or crossing the toll with it in hand is completely illegal.
To eliminate financial anomalies, tax evasion and security risks at toll plazas, NHAI has officially ‘One Vehicle, One FASTag’ The rule has been implemented. The main provisions of this policy are as follows:
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Direct Linkage to Vehicle Registration: Every Fastag works on RFID chip technology. When the bank or authorized agency issues the FASTag, it digitally maps the tag ID to the vehicle’s chassis number, engine number, vehicle registration number (VRN) and the specific category of the vehicle (like car, jeep, bus or truck).
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One tag invalid in multiple trains: The same Fastag can never be linked to two or more vehicles.
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Multiple tags on one vehicle prohibited: Under this rule, it is also prohibited to have more than one active Fastag on the same vehicle while changing banks. A new tag can be installed only by deactivating the old RFID chip.
If a driver, trying to show cleverness, removes the Fastag from one car and puts it in another car, then he cannot escape from the modern automatic system of the toll plaza. Doing so will have the following serious consequences:
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Instant capture from cameras and ANPR: Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and boom barriers are installed at toll plazas across the country. As soon as the Fastag reader scans the tag, the camera reads the number plate of the car. If the vehicle number recorded on the tag and the number plate captured by the camera do not match, the system immediately issues an alert.
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Fastag will be blacklisted immediately: As soon as there is a number plate mismatch, the servers of the bank and NPCI will immediately blacklist that Fastag by putting it in the ‘fraud’ or ‘default’ category. Once blacklisted, that tag will become useless even for the first vehicle.
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Double Toll Penalty: As per the National Highway Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, if an illegal, invalid or mismatched FASTag is found in a vehicle, the driver will have to pay the rate applicable at the concerned toll plaza. Double Cash Penalty Will have to be filled.
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Vehicle seizure and legal sections: If someone commits fraud in paying less toll by putting Fastag of a car on a heavy vehicle (like a commercial truck), then the toll management can inform the local police and get the vehicle confiscated and a challan can be issued under the sections of fraud.
Even from a technical point of view, it has been made impossible to remove Fastag from one car and securely attach it to another car. Fastag is manufactured with ‘Tamper-Evident’ technology. This means that when you stick Fastag on the inner side of the windscreen of the car, its RFID antenna coil gets stuck to the surface of the glass. If you try to remove it by scraping or pulling it, the chip’s internal circuitry and antenna will be broken and destroyed. As a result, the tag will become completely ‘Dead’ and will not be read by any toll scanner.
If you have two cars, the legal and safest way is to get separate FASTags issued for both the vehicles. Even though the two tags are different, you can link them both to your same bank account, Paytm wallet or UPI ID. With this, your wallet balance will remain common and toll of both the vehicles will be deducted from the same wallet. It is very easy to get a new Fastag – you can get a new Fastag from the POS counter of any bank (SBI, HDFC, ICICI etc.), Amazon, Google Pay or toll plaza by giving the RC of your other vehicle, Aadhaar card and PAN card for a nominal fee of only ₹ 100 to ₹ 200. Don’t take the risk of using one Fastag in two vehicles just to save a few rupees, as it can land you in trouble of double the fine and blacklisting.