Toll collection at the country’s national highways (NHs) — one of the metrics of economic activity — is set to hit a new record during FY26.
During the first three quarters of FY26, a user fee of Rs 50,345 crore was collected, which is almost 82% of the total toll collection in FY25, when a user fee of Rs 61,408 crore was charged from vehicles, the government told Parliament on Wednesday.
The pace of collection indicates that toll revenues in this financial year are likely to surpass those of previous years.
According to the latest data tabled by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in the Rajya Sabha, the total user fee collection in FY24 was Rs 55,882 crore, while it stood at Rs 48,032 crore in FY23.
In FY22 and FY21, total toll collections were Rs 33,929 crore and Rs 27,927 crore respectively.
Overall, the total user fee collected from FY21 to December 2025 stands at Rs 2.78 lakh crore. The total collection has increased significantly by about 120% or more than doubled in the last five years.
Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for road transport and highways, said that the increase in user fee collection at toll plazas on national highways depends on several factors, such as the expansion of highway length under tolling, the volume of traffic on these stretches, and the category of vehicles using the highways.
Along with this, the annual revision of user fees in accordance with the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008, is another major factor.
“Impact Assessment conducted for the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) Programme during 2024-25 indicates that the average time taken by a vehicle to cross a fee plaza under ETC operations was 40 seconds, as compared to 12.23 minutes per vehicle under the earlier manual tolling system. This demonstrates a significant improvement in traffic flow and a substantial reduction in congestion at fee plazas,” Gadkari said in the written response.
The government has also decided to implement multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) with AI analytics and RFID-based Electronic Toll Collection (FASTag) which will facilitate barrier-less tolling and increase toll collection further.
While state-wise toll collection data for the current financial year is yet to be released, an analysis of the past five years shows that the increase in toll revenues has been largely driven by five states: Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Together, these five states account for about 48% of the total toll collection.
Between FY21 and FY25, Rajasthan emerged as the top toll-collecting state, where collections rose from about Rs 3,330 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 6,289 crore in 2024-25. Its cumulative toll collection during the period is Rs 24,310 crore.
Uttar Pradesh closely followed, with collections increasing from Rs 3,087 crore to Rs 6,574 crore during the same period, taking its total toll collection to nearly 23,900 crore.
Maharashtra also recorded strong growth, more than doubling its toll revenues from Rs 2,591 crore in FY21 to about Rs 6,103 crore in FY25. Gujarat showed a similar upward trajectory, with collections rising from Rs 2,721 crore to Rs 5,450 crore.
Tamil Nadu, though slightly behind these states, maintained consistent growth, with toll revenues increasing from Rs 2,333 crore to Rs 4,459 crore over the period.
These five high toll collecting states have dense highway networks as well, which supports high vehicle movement and industrial activity.
The pace of collection indicates that toll revenues in this financial year are likely to surpass those of previous years.
(File photo) 
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