India-based used-car marketplace Cars24 has launched a dedicated section on its site for users to pay traffic fines online.
According to a news release, the online traffic fine payment service, called “eChallan,” will allow private car owners to easily check and settle pending traffic violation fines on the Cars24 app or website. Traffic fine payment continues to be largely unorganized and offline in India, despite the presence of government-run online portals in almost all of the country’s states.
Gajendra Jangid, co-founder of Cars24, said, “This ‘eChallan’ service was born from our customers’ requests. We understand that dealing with fines can be quite a hassle. With this service, our primary goal is to simplify the process for vehicle owners while also helping the government’s fine-payment management. We’re confident that this initiative will truly empower vehicle owners and revolutionize how they handle their traffic fines.”
Despite accounting for about 1% of total vehicles worldwide, India recorded 11% of the total deaths in road accidents in recent figures. Growing traffic violations have prompted stringent measures from policymakers. Increased CCTV surveillance, automated violation detection, hefty fines, and delicensing repeat offenders are among the interventions in recent months.
The new service follows a strategic shift at Cars24: in May, it exited Indonesia and Saudi Arabia — markets it had entered a little over a year before — and expressed its intention to focus on core markets like India. CEO Kunal Mundra left the company in December 2022, less than two years after his appointment.
Founded in 2015, Cars24 was initially a b-to-b marketplace but later shifted to a c-to-b-to-c model, offering customers the opportunity to buy and sell motors online.