At Rs 400 crore per year, Bharthana in Gujarat India's top toll plaza

How many people would have heard of Bharthana? Not many, for sure. But a toll plaza near this Gujarat village on the Vadodara-Bharuch section of NH-48, connecting Delhi with Mumbai - the busiest route in the country - is the top toll grosser, generating an average of Rs 400 crore annually over the past five years.

Given the volume of goods traffic that moves between landlocked states in north India and ports on the country's western coast, it isn't surprising that the toll plaza in Shahjahanpur in Rajasthan - also on NH-48 - garnered the second highest user fee of Rs 378 crore a year.

45,000km of 1.5 lakh km NH network under tolling; FASTag impact visibleData shared by road transport and highways ministry in Lok Sabha last week showed that of the 1,063 toll plazas in India's NH network, 14 reported collection of over Rs 200 crore a year. Currently, around 45,000km of the 1.5 lakh km of NHs, including the newly-built expressways, is under tolling.

With a large chunk becoming commercially operational over the last five years and the impact of FASTag showing (in checking leakages), annual toll collection doubled from Rs 27,504 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 55,882 crore in the last financial year.

Govt data showed that commuters shelled out little over Rs 1.9 lakh crore in toll over the past five years, although it's barely a fifth of the annual budget spent for highway development and maintenance during this period. Govt collects toll only on highways that are of at least two-and-half lanes (two-lane with paved shoulders) and there is a huge thrust to bring more highways under tolling to increase revenue.

Data shared in Parliament showed that among the states, 97 toll plazas in Uttar Pradesh reported the maximum collection at Rs 22,914 crore during the past five years. Rajasthan, which has the highest number of 156 toll plazas, recorded a collection of Rs 20,308 crore (see graphic).

Typically, toll collection is higher at plazas located on the NHs that connect ports and industrial hubs. "These plazas get more commercial and heavy goods vehicles, which pay higher toll compared to private vehicles. So, these projects have been viable for private players," an official said.