Paytm Payments Bank becomes largest issuer of Indian FASTag toll devices

Paytm Payments Bank has issued over 3 million FASTags for the Indian national highway electronic toll system, making it the largest issuer in the country.

Paytm Payments Bank issued 40% of all FASTag toll accounts in the last month and has plans to increase its FASTag adoption rate to over 5 million vehicles by March 2020, according to a press release.

Users can have their tolls paid directly from their Paytm wallet without requiring them to create and reload a separate FASTag wallet. Normally FASTag wallets require an attached payment card, checking account or savings account to reload a separate wallet to pay for highway tolls, which have been largely digitized in the last year as the government seeks to reduce costs and lessen consumers’ dependency on cash.

“This milestone is a testament to the efforts we are putting in the ‘Digital India’ vision of the government. We will continue to work towards the adoption of digital toll payments in the country," said Satish Gupta, managing director and CEO of Paytm Payments Bank, in a press release.

The Paytm Payments Bank is a subsidiary of Paytm that is jointly owned between Paytm’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and One97 Communications, which is a partial owner of Paytm. Other major investors in Paytm include Alibaba and Softbank.

Paytm Payments Bank acquired a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India in 2015 and launched digital banking services to consumers in 2017.

First introduced in 2014, the RFID-based FASTag toll stickers are affixed on vehicle windshields to enable payments without stopping the vehicle. The Indian government mandated that all highway toll lanes adopt the electronic toll tag system by December 15, 2019, according to The Economic Times of India.

In November Paytm Payments Bank reported that it had already issued 1 million FASTag accounts and was preparing to accelerate its efforts. The FASTag system covers over 530 toll plazas along India’s national highway system. Paytm Payments Bank is India’s second largest acquiring bank for the National Electronic Toll Collection program collecting payments at more than 110 toll plazas.