New Delhi (ABC Live):The Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) and ICICI bank have signed an agreement for provision of Central Clearing House (CCH) services for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) here today. The agreement was signed in the presence of Shri Vijay Chhibber, Secretary Road Transport And Highways (RTH) and Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Joint Secretary (LA&P).
Earlier, IHMCL, the Company incorporated primarily for implementation of Electronic Toll Collection on Indian national highways, had invited bids from the major Indian commercial banks for provision of Central Clearing House services for Electronic Toll Collection. Based on the bidding parameter, ICICI bank has emerged as the successful bidder.
Electronic Toll Collection enables road users to pay highway tolls electronically without stopping at the toll plazas. The unique number of the RFID Tag(Radio Frequency Identity) affixed on the wind shield of the vehicle will be read by the Readers fitted in the dedicated “ETC” lanes of plazas and sent to the Central Clearing House for financial settlement.
This is subsequent to the landmark initiative taken by the ministry, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and IHMCL for implementation of unified Electronic Toll Collection on Indian national highways. Considering the complexities and geographical spread, the nation-wide ETC would be first of its kind in the whole world. Even in the highly developed countries like USA, Canada, Australia and China, the nation-wide unified ETC system is not operational.
Through this agreement, IHMCL has engaged ICICI Bank to perform clearing and settlement of electronic toll transaction, which is key requirement for interoperable electronic toll collection. ICICI Bank was issued Letter of Award for the same by IHMCL on 18th Feb 2014.
