How NHAI tolls work in India (2026): the Fee Rules, the 60-km rule, passes, exemptions, and FASTag penalties

The rulebook: Fee Rules 2008 and per-stretch notifications

Section 9 of the National Highways Act 1956 lets the central government levy a fee for using national highways; the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules 2008, notified on 5 December 2008, say how much and how. They apply to public-funded stretches and to private concessions bid on or after that date; older concessions still follow the 1997 rules and their own agreements. Each tolled stretch then gets its own Gazette notification naming the plaza and the fee table, which is why two plazas 60 km apart can charge different amounts for the same car.

How the fee is calculated

Rule 4 sets base rates per kilometre for the base year 2007-08 on a four-lane highway. A national expressway is charged at 1.25 times those rates, a bypass costing ₹10 crore or more at 1.5 times, and a four-lane stretch being widened to six lanes at 75 percent with no annual revision. Two 2025–26 amendments lowered particular cases: since 1 July 2025 a bridge, tunnel, or flyover counts as ten times its length plus the plain road, or five times the total, whichever is lower; since 31 December 2025 a two-lane stretch under four-laning is charged at 30 percent; and since 15 February 2026 a partially opened national expressway is charged at the ordinary highway rate rather than 1.25 times, for a year or until it fully opens.

Rule 5 revises every fee on 1 April: three percent a year without compounding since 1 April 2008, plus 40 percent of the rise in the wholesale price index from the week ending 6 January 2007 (index 208.7) to the previous December. PIB confirmed the 1 April 2026 revision was made under this rule.

Where a plaza may stand: the 60-km rule

Rule 8 requires a plaza to be beyond 10 km of a municipal limit and forbids another fee plaza on the same section of highway in the same direction within 60 km. The executing authority may nonetheless allow one for reasons recorded in writing, plazas on bridges, bypasses, and tunnels are exempt, and in closed tolling, where you pay for the distance between entry and exit, plazas can be established anywhere. So the rule is a norm, not a guarantee.

Discounts and passes under Rule 9

A return journey within 24 hours of the first payment costs one and a half times the single fee. A monthly pass for 50 single journeys costs two-thirds of 50 single fees. Residents within 20 km of a plaza who own a non-commercial vehicle can buy a local monthly pass whose base price was ₹150 for 2007-08 and is revised annually under Rule 5; PIB put it at ₹315 for 2022-23, and press reports give ₹340 for 2024-25 and ₹350 for 2025-26, with no official figure yet found for 2026-27. The local pass is not issued where a service road or alternative road exists and is not available in closed tolling. Commercial vehicles registered in the district, other than national-permit vehicles, pay 50 percent at plazas in that district.

Since 20 July 2026 the local pass has a digital form: NHAI issues it through the RajmargYatra app after checks against DigiLocker, the VAHAN vehicle register, and a location match, first at the Mundka–Bakkarwala plaza on Delhi's Urban Extension Road II.

Who pays nothing

Rule 11 exempts vehicles carrying named constitutional and official dignitaries, from the President to members of Parliament and, within their own state, MLAs and MLCs with identification, together with their security vehicles; official vehicles of the defence forces, paramilitary, and police in uniform, executive magistrates, fire services, and NHAI inspection vehicles; ambulances and funeral vans; and vehicles specially designed for a person with a physical disability. NHAI clarified in January 2026 who is not exempt: ex-servicemen, defence civilians and serving personnel in private cars, patients in private cars, journalists, RTI activists, religious dignitaries, and civilian gallantry awardees.

FASTag: the mandate and the penalties

All lanes at national highway plazas became FASTag lanes at midnight on 15–16 February 2021, and a vehicle without a FASTag pays twice the fee. The Third Amendment Rules 2025, in force from 15 November 2025, softened one case: a driver without a valid FASTag pays twice if paying cash but 1.25 times if paying by UPI or another digital mode. If the plaza's reader fails while your FASTag is valid and funded, Rule 6 lets you pass free with a zero-fee receipt.

Two rules that circulated widely in 2025 need context. NPCI's circular effective 17 February 2025 declines transactions on tags that were inactive more than 60 minutes before the read and up to 10 minutes after; NHAI stated that this settles disputes between banks and has no impact on FASTag customers, because national highway plazas run the ICD 2.5 protocol with real-time tag status, so you can recharge any time before crossing. And since 17 March 2026 an unpaid fee triggers an e-notice by SMS, email, app, or portal linked to VAHAN: pay within 72 hours and you owe the ordinary fee; after that, twice the toll, and after 15 days the debt is recorded against the vehicle. From 15 April 2026 overloading is also charged through FASTag or UPI: nothing up to 10 percent over the permitted weight, twice the fee up to 40 percent over, and four times beyond that.

Reading a plaza board

Plaza boards list six classes: car, jeep, or van; light commercial vehicle; bus or truck with two axles; up to three axles; four to six axles; and oversized vehicles with seven or more. Each shows a single-journey fee, a 24-hour return fee, and a monthly-pass fee, plus the local pass rates, which NHAI ordered plazas in October 2025 to display in English, Hindi, and the regional language. The FASTag Annual Pass, covered in our separate guide, works at these plazas and at no state expressway.