New Delhi, Nov. 11 -- When the government made FASTag mandatory in 2021, it was seen primarily as a way to end long queues at toll plazas and smoothen highway drives. Four years later, the small RFID sticker on vehicle windshields has become more than a digital toll tag-it has evolved into a repository of national mobility data and become the backbone of a data-driven transformation in India's highway sector.

With a penetration rate of around 98%, over 80 million FASTag users, and national toll collections exceeding Rs.70,000 crore annually, the ministry of road transport and highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have begun using FASTag transaction data to plan new corridors, manage congestion and revise toll road ...