Annual pass takes a toll, transactions dip 5.2% in H1

New Delhi: In a first, India’s toll volume fell in the first six months of the current financial year while the rise in toll value moderated significantly from previous years, with experts attributing the trend to the introduction of the annual pass in 2025.

Government data shows toll volume fell 5.2% to 2.13 billion in the April-September period from 2.25 billion in the corresponding period last year. Toll revenue rose 6.27% to Rs 42,971.82 crore from Rs 40,433.53 crore in the same period of 2025-26, a much slower pace of growth than in previous years.

The number of toll transactions in 2025-26 stood at 4.45 billion, up 5.67% from 4.21 billion in the preceding year. Toll revenue generated in 2025-26 was 13.67% higher at Rs 82,900.61 crore, compared with Rs 72,930.83 crore.

“Last year we registered an increase of 13.7% in toll revenue compared to the preceding year. However, this year we see some slowdown in revenue growth, in the range of 7-8%, because of higher base effect,” a senior government official said.

According to the official, annual pass transactions are not included in the data, resulting in a decline in reported toll transactions.

“Going forward we anticipate a pick up in both volume and value of toll collection on the back of a surge in commercial traffic in the festival and wedding months,” the official said.

The volume of toll transactions is the total number of individual times a vehicle passes through a toll collection point or generates a toll charge over a specific period.

“The introduction of annual toll passes would have contributed to the reduction in reported toll volumes, while actual road usage remains supported,” said Jagannaryan Padmanabhan, senior director and global head, Crisil Intelligence.

Kuljit Singh, partner and national infrastructure leader, EY India, agreed. “The reduction in the half year traffic may be on account of inter-alia the evolving treatment of annual pass usage in the estimated traffic and additional data true ups that may happen in the next few months,” Singh said.

At the current pace, India could clock toll revenue of Rs 90,000 crore, while the volume of toll transactions could be marginally lower than or at par with last year.

The FASTag annual pass, launched on August 15, 2025, has crossed the milestone of 10 million passes and clocked 786 million transactions since then.

Applicable at about 1,150 fee plazas, the annual pass eliminates the need to frequently recharge FASTag through a one-time fee of Rs 3,075 for one year or 200 toll plaza crossings.