Toll collection through FASTags on national highways increased by 21% month-on-month (m-o-m) in June to Rs 2,576 crore as traffic movement eased following the partial lifting of lockdown and restrictions imposed by several states to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
In May, toll collection declined 23.47% to Rs 2,125 crore over the previous month. In April Rs 2,777 crore toll was collected and Rs 3,086 crore in March.
Around 96% of the toll is currently collected through the electronic route using FASTag.
“With a fall in the number of Covid cases from the third week of May 2021, states are expected to relax the lockdown restrictions in a gradual manner. We expect the toll collections to ramp up from June onward,” Icra’s vice president Rajeshwar Burla had earlier said.
He added that despite hitting a speed breaker in the form of the second wave of Covid-19, toll road projects are expected to witness low teen revenue growth in FY22 on the back of a low base and inflation-linked increase in toll rates.
Toll collection in the national highways stood at Rs 26,851 crore in 2019-20 as against Rs 24,396 crore a year earlier.