The days of fumbling for change at toll plazas are officially over. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified that cash will not be accepted at any national highway toll booth from 10 April 2026, making FASTag or UPI the only ways to pay your way through.
The move, long anticipated after years of incremental digital push by NHAI, is aimed squarely at ending the notorious queuing problem that has made toll plazas a source of daily frustration for crores of commuters on routes such as the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway, and the Golden Quadrilateral network.
What happens if you do not have FASTag?
Drivers without a valid FASTag will not be blocked outright, but they will pay for it. UPI will be available as a fallback, but at 1.25 times the normal toll rate. Those who refuse to pay digitally altogether face the provisions of Rule 14 of the National Highways Fee Rules, 2008, under which the highway authority can deny entry to that stretch of road. An e-notice will be issued for the unpaid toll, and if it is not cleared within three days, the penalty doubles.
The ID-card trick is over
Perhaps the more significant crackdown is on a practice that has long irritated ordinary commuters: government officials, defence personnel, and others in exemption-eligible categories flashing their identity cards at toll booths to get waved through, even when travelling in personal vehicles on personal trips.
The ministry has now written to all concerned government bodies directing them to obtain “Exempted FASTags” for vehicles that genuinely qualify under the law, or to purchase a FASTag Annual Pass. The exemption, officials have clarified, is attached to an office or authority, not to an individual. Using a government ID card to skip the queue in a private car was never legal, but it was widely tolerated. That window is now firmly shut.
The Annual Pass option
For frequent highway users, the FASTag Annual Pass remains a practical choice. Priced at Rs 3,075 from 1 April 2026, a modest 2.5% increase in line with the Wholesale Price Index, the pass allows unlimited crossings across the national highway network. A single Delhi-Agra return journey can cost upwards of Rs 500 in tolls, meaning the pass pays for itself within a few long-distance trips.
What is coming next
The cashless mandate is also preparation for a larger shift. NHAI is fast-tracking the rollout of multi-lane free-flow tolling, sometimes called barrier-free or open-road tolling, across the national highway network. Under that system, there will be no physical stopping at all. Cameras and RFID readers will log your vehicle as it passes at full speed, and the toll will be deducted automatically. Vehicles without valid FASTags will receive an e-notice after the fact.
With over 98% of toll transactions already happening electronically, the infrastructure is largely in place. The April 10 deadline is less a technological leap and more an administrative line in the sand: carry cash on the highway if you like, but it will not get you through the gate.