NHAI’s new Fastag rule: What will change in your journey?

Recently, there were many discussions on social media regarding the change in Fastag rules, on which the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has clarified. Some reports said that if the Fastag remains inactive for 60 minutes before and is not activated for 10 minutes after crossing the toll, the transaction will be rejected. On this, NHAI clarified that the NPCI circular issued on January 28, 2025 will not affect Fastag customers.

NPCI has issued this circular to resolve disputes between the acquiring bank and the issuing bank, so that Fastag transactions are done on time and customers do not face any inconvenience. All national highway toll plazas are working on ICD 2.5 protocol, which gives the status of the tag in real-time. This means that customers can recharge their Fastag anytime before crossing the toll. However, some state highways are using the old ICD 2.4 protocol, which will soon be upgraded to the new system.

Under the new Fastag rules, vehicles with low balance, late payment or blacklisted tags will be charged additional penalty. Users who do not pay on time or whose tags are blacklisted may face trouble. Fastag customers have been advised to recharge on time through UPI, net banking or other digital means. The problem of delayed payment can be avoided by adopting the auto-recharge option.