NPCI to expand contactless parking solution with FASTag to major cities

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Tuesday said it will expand its fully contactless parking solution with FASTag to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru.

It said the first-of-its-kind contactless car parking facility at Hyderabad Airport received a huge response, prompting to take this service to other metros.

"As the first bank to extend this facility of collecting parking charges through FASTag at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport, ICICI Bank, with NPCI, is set to roll out contactless car parking in other metros," it said a release.

The facility of 100 percent contactless and interoperable parking solution with NETC FASTag is currently being implemented by 10 FASTag issuing banks at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport.

NPCI expects the rest of the issuer banks to activate the contactless parking with NETC FASTag at the Hyderabad Airport in the next few weeks, said the release.

NPCI has also initiated discussions with major malls, airports and other private parking lots in Chennai and Bangaluru for the NETC FASTag powered contactless car parking solutions.

The company has been receiving interests from major banks in spearheading the parking projects.

Sudipta Roy, Head - Unsecured Assets, ICICI Bank, said, "This is a safe, contactless and hassle-free system. It works on RFID technology that also powers digital toll collection at more than 695 toll plazas across the country. We feel that commuters using Hyderabad outer ring road and now the airport parking will get a seamless experience powered by ICICI Bank FASTag."

The contactless car parking facility allows passengers and visitors pay for parking without the need to roll down their windows.

While the parking lots across the country are being enabled with digital payment solutions, several models are semi-automated but not 100 percent contactless.

This leads to an opportunity to all parking providers across the country to adopt safe and contactless payment solutions by implementing the NETC FASTag, NPCI said.

"We are going to see a good adoption of this solution across all the parking lots in the near future. We are aiming at taking this unique contactless parking proposition in metro cities keeping in mind the convenience of passengers and visitors. In this new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic situation 100 per cent contactless payment solution is going to be the need of the hour," said Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI.

Pradeep Panicker, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), said the Hyderabad airport has tested first with ICICI Bank and now opening up to all the balance issuers.

The NPCI was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.

It has created a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country through host of channels such as RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC FASTag) and Bharat BillPay.