Toll Plazas Are Going Away: Here's Exactly How the New System Will Work
By the end of 2026, toll plazas across national highways will begin transitioning to a barrier-free, satellite-based toll collection system. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has confirmed in Parliament that the new GNSS-based system will be fully operational by year-end, with zero waiting time for vehicles travelling at 80 km/h through existing toll locations. The promise is that you will simply drive through and the toll will be deducted automatically, based on the exact distance you have travelled on the highway.
The technology behind this is GNSS, or Global Navigation Satellite System. This is a family of satellite navigation systems that includes GPS and India's own NavIC constellation.
Every vehicle enrolled in the new system will carry an On-Board Unit, a small device that communicates with satellites and tracks the vehicle's precise location throughout its highway journey.
The toll software maps that journey against geo-fenced national highway coordinates and calculates what you owe. The amount is then deducted from a digital wallet linked to the OBU, similar to how FASTag currently works but without any barrier, boom, or stopping involved.
NHAI deployed the first Multi-Lane Free Flow tolling system at the Chorayasi Toll Plaza on the Surat-Bharuch section of NH-48 in Gujarat on May 1, 2025. Vehicles equipped with the GNSS-OBU pass through without slowing down. Virtual gantries installed at strategic points along the highway communicate with each OBU and log the transit. This pilot stretch is the proof-of-concept that the full-scale rollout is built on.
The system uses ANPR, or Automatic Number Plate Recognition, cameras at gantries as a compliance mechanism for vehicles not yet fitted with an OBU. These cameras read the number plate and cross-reference it against the vehicle's FASTag account to deduct the applicable toll. This hybrid approach ensures that non-OBU vehicles are not simply passing toll-free during the transition period.
The current flat-rate FASTag system charges you the same toll regardless of whether you entered the highway 2 km before the plaza or 40 km before it. The GNSS system changes this to distance-based billing.
If you join a national highway mid-stretch and exit before the next toll point, you pay only for the kilometres you actually used. This is fairer for short-distance highway users and is particularly relevant for towns located between two toll plazas, whose residents have historically paid a full plaza toll for access to just a short highway stretch.
NHAI estimates the current toll collection loss from short-entry users who bypass plazas entirely is significant, and the new system eliminates that gap entirely.
The financial argument for the new system is as important as the convenience argument. Gadkari stated in Parliament that once the satellite system is fully operational, NHAI's annual toll revenue will increase by approximately Rs 6,000 crore, and leakage from toll evasion will be eliminated.
The current FASTag system collected Rs 54,000 crore in FY24 and Rs 64,000 crore in FY25, numbers that already reflect the efficiency gain from electronic tolling over cash. The GNSS layer adds precision, closes evasion gaps, and enables revenue growth without raising toll rates.
For the driver, the change means no more slowing to 25 km/h through boom barriers, no queuing on busy travel days, and no scrambling to ensure your FASTag wallet is topped up before a trip.
Toll deductions will appear as SMS notifications after each gantry crossing, giving you a clear real-time record of what you are paying and where.
The full nationwide rollout covering all 50,000 km of national highways is planned over the next two years from first operational deployment, with commercial vehicles and vehicles already carrying Vehicle Location Tracking systems going first, followed by private cars.