By Tushar Chavan
Mumbai- 13 Jan 2021- WheelsEye Believes FASTag will soon transform into a digital wallet for transportation.
In 2012, India’s first ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) was started in Gurugram. It grew to a broader scale and came to be known as FASTag by 2016. 1 Lakh tags were issued in that year by four central banks. 7lakh and 34 lakh tags in 2017 & 2018, respectively. Today, more than two crore fastags are active, and from 15 Feb onwards, fastag will become mandatory.
National & State Governments and private companies are racing to claim the top spot and push the bar. According to an Oct ’20 article by The Hindu, Chennai Traffic Police is working on an AI-based challan collecting system that will deduct traffic fines from the FASTag wallet. Parking startup Park+ is collecting parking fees using Fastag Wallet.
It was becoming increasingly clear that fastag is evolving into a digital wallet for transportation. It will be used to pay challans, buy fuel, and file GST returns along with paying toll tax. There are numerous potential use cases of FASTag like obtaining vehicle location, paying compliance fee, & paying loading and unloading charges.
It is reported that 80% of commercial vehicles are already FASTag enabled and 65% of the daily toll collection is dependent on commercial vehicles. But still, it’s a long way to go before we make a smooth experience for commercial vehicle owners.
A spokesperson from WheelsEye said to Prittle Prattle News through a press release that “For fastag to be successful, it’s essential that truck owners trust and adopt it. Fastag has been primarily developed for car owners, but its success hangs on commercial use-case solutions’ success. Fastag has the potential to drive the unification of the highway economy. With fastag, India is inching towards a world-class transportation system. WheelsEye also enables postpaid plans and fuel purchases on fastag.
Started in 2017, WheelsEye is a Gurugram-based logistics tech startup that aims at empowering truck operators. It provides an ecosystem of technology services for small trucking businesses. WheelsEye currently serves more than 10 lakh truck owners across India and addresses a landscape of problems like GPS Devices, GPS Softwares, Fastag Management, Cashback on Diesel Purchase, Full Truck Loads, and Short Term Business Loans. As of today, WheelsEye enables 10% of total commercial vehicle FASTag transactions in India.
