Following the implementation of a contactless boarding facility, passengers visiting the GMR Hyderabad International Airport can now enjoy a contactless car parking experience.

This service is in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC), which has now made the airport’s car parking fully compatible with any NETC FASTag issuing banks in India.

The airport authorities have tested first with ICICI Bank and are now opening up to all the balance issuers.

What is NETC FASTag?

FASTag solution is based on reloadable electronic Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) tag which enables automatic deduction of applicable parking charges, while one drives through the car park without stopping for any cash transaction.

How does the system work?

According to the airport, this automated system entails a customer buying the NETC FASTag, which is linked to a prepaid account. The tag employs RFID technology and needs to be affixed on the vehicle’s windscreen after the tag account is active. The RFID tag is mapped with NPCI by the issuer bank(s).

The subscriber of this system can use the parking without any manual intervention, such as waiting for a parking receipt at the entry or making cash/credit card payment at the exit. There is no additional cost to customers with respect to the parking fee. One has to just purchase a one time tag that does away with the wait time at entry and exit.

Dedicated NETC FASTag lanes are in place at entry. When a user arrives through this lane, the strategically placed RFID reader will capture the tag with the timestamp and store the details in the local database. While exiting, the same will be reconciled and the chargeable parking fee is automatically deducted. Post completion of every transaction, the user will receive SMS on the deducted amount.

Commenting on this development Praveena Rai, chief operating officer, NPCI said, “By venturing into the safe and contactless car park mechanism, customers would get rid of producing cash at the exit and long queue.

“In the Covid prevalent situation, this service will offer safety in digital payments as well.”

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