NHAI Issues Massive Refunds for Incorrect FASTag Toll Deductions in 2025
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has refunded toll charges in a staggering 17.7 lakh cases between January and December 2025. This action was taken due to incorrect deductions from FASTag wallets, highlighting significant issues in the electronic toll collection system.
Shocking Discovery: Vehicles Absent During Deductions
In a particularly concerning revelation, nearly 35% of these refund cases involved vehicles that were not even present at the toll plaza when the user fee was debited. This points to serious flaws in the toll collection process that directly impact commuters.
Manual Entry Identified as Primary Culprit
Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday that these erroneous transactions primarily occur when toll operators manually enter vehicle details into the system. This practice, often necessitated by technical issues with automatic recognition, has led to numerous incorrect deductions.
In his written reply, Gadkari cited data from the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages the Central Clearing House services for electronic toll collection. The NPCI reported 17.66 lakh transactions where refunds were issued due to incorrect toll deductions during 2025.
Ministry Considers Drastic Action
The road transport ministry is now seriously contemplating completely eliminating the option for manual vehicle entry at toll plazas. While the number of faulty transactions represents just 0.03% of all 464 crore FASTag transactions in 2025, officials acknowledge that even this small percentage causes unnecessary inconvenience to travelers.
"Though the number of faulty transactions is minuscule, this shouldn't happen," stated an official familiar with the matter. "A decision is likely soon on stopping the practice of manually feeding vehicle registration numbers in the system to deduct toll. In such cases, there is a possibility of the toll attendants noting down wrong details. This becomes an unnecessary hassle for commuters."
FASTag's Success Amid Challenges
Despite these refund issues, the ministry emphasized the overall success of the FASTag system in transforming India's toll collection infrastructure. The implementation of FASTag has dramatically reduced the average time vehicles spend at toll plazas from 12.2 minutes under the manual system to just 40 seconds with electronic tolling.
Record Toll Collections Continue
In a separate development, the road transport ministry revealed impressive toll collection figures. During the first three quarters of the financial year 2025-26, Rs 50,195 crore was collected as user fees across national highways and expressways. This substantial amount approaches the Rs 61,508 crore collected during the entire previous financial year, indicating robust growth in toll revenue despite the refund challenges.
The ministry's dual focus on addressing refund issues while maintaining efficient toll collection demonstrates its commitment to improving India's highway infrastructure while ensuring fairness for all road users.
