A message is being widely shared on social media with a claim that there are around 1650 crore vehicles in India, which use highways and pay tolls. The post also claims that the government has made the FASTag registration compulsory so that the toll companies would earn lakhs of crores. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Claim: In India, there are around 1650 crore vehicles using highway tolls.
Fact: According to the Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the total number of registered motor vehicles in India by March 2017 is around 25 crores. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The information regarding the number of registered motor vehicles in India can be found in the reports published by the Ministtry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). In the Annual Report (2018-19) of MoRTH, it can be read that the total number of registered motor vehicles in India in 2016 is around 23 crores. Also, there is provisional data available for the year 2017 which shows that there are around 25.33 crore registered motor vehicles in India. So, the claim that there are around 1650 crore vehicles using highway tolls in India is false. More detailed reports regarding the number of registered motor vehicles in India can be seen here and here.
FACTLY has written a detailed explainer article about the FASTags. It can be read here.
To sum it up, there are only around 25 crore registered motor vehicles in India as of 2017.
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