Indian motorists to benefit from 50% toll reduction on National Highway

Motorists across India can now benefit from up to 50% reduction in tolls on the national highway, thanks to a new policy revision by the country’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH). The shift has been in effect since July 2.

Here’s where drivers can expect a relief from tolls.

Tolls, also known as user charges, are typically calculated through estimations of the distance travelled and road usage during your journey on the highway.

The ministry has unveiled new guidelines for how road charges work, revising the previous National Highway toll rates calculated by a 2008 policy.

The policy now outlines that in stretches of the highway with independent bridges, tunnels, flyovers, or elevated sections will now no longer have the same costs.

“The rate of fee for use of a section of national highway comprising of structure or structures shall be calculated by adding ten times the length of structure or structures, to the length of the section of national highway excluding the length of structure or structures, or five times the total length of section of national highway, whichever is lesser,” according to an official notification published by MORTH.

To better illustrate the predicted cost, MORTH has included various different examples of calculations for the public, within their official notification.

For instance, if one section of the national highway measures out to 40km, then the prospective lengths would either be 400km (when calculating ten times the length of the highway) or 200km (when calculating five times the length of the highway). In such a case, motorists would be charged according to the 200km distance as it is the shorter distance covered in this example.

In simple terms, whichever calculation results in a lower length distance will be used to measure the user charges.

Why are structures even a major factor for toll rates anyway? Tolls are typically utilised as a way to reimburse the government for expenses of building and maintain local infrastructure. This leads to higher costs surrounding structures like bridges or tunnels that require more intensive construction and upkeep.

Additionally, the National Highway network of India spans an impressive length connecting cities across the country, and it is anticipated to keep growing for better connectivity. In fact, during the nine year duration from 2014 to 2023, the network expanded by 60%, going from 91,287km to 146,145km according to data from MORTH’s 2023 end-of-year review.