Craze for fancy registration numbers rakes in hefty bucks

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Transport Department has raked in more than Rs 21 lakh through the sale of fancy registration numbers for vehicles at an auction held at HSR Layout RTO, sources from the transport department told News Trail on Thursday.

According to the officials, an auction of fancy numbers in the M 04/ND series was held at the Regional Transport Office and 13 numbers fetched a total of Rs 21,55,000.

The growing craze for fancy registration numbers among vehicle owners in Bengaluru has made them highly sought-after commodities, especially in the last two decades.

The transport department has recently witnessed bids for exclusive numbers, with some fetching astounding prices.

The trend has proven to be a lucrative revenue stream for the department, significantly contributing to its annual revenue. For example, in the first week of August, several fancy numbers such as KA 01 NB 0001 and KA 05 NJ 0001 were sold for staggering amounts of Rs 19 lakh to Rs 21 lakh.

In the same auction event, 22 fancy numbers were also put up for bid later. Among them, number 8055 fetched the second-highest bid of Rs 5.2 lakh, while number 9999 was sold for Rs 5.1 lakh.

The number M 04/ND 0001 was auctioned for Rs 6.75 lakh, M 04/ND 9999 for Rs 3 lakh, M 04/ND 0005 for Rs 1.9 lakh and M 04/ND 0009 for Rs 1.35 lakh respectively.

According to the transport department's annual reports, the auctioning of fancy numbers in the fiscal year 2021-22 generated revenue amounting to Rs 24.5 crore, which more than doubled to a remarkable Rs 53.3 crore in 2022-23.

Since the introduction of the scheme in 2015, the department has accumulated a staggering Rs 165 crore from the auctioning of fancy numbers throughout the state.

To further boost their revenue, the transport department initiated the auctioning of fancy numbers in both the running and advanced series through public auctions in 2015.

The auction includes registration numbers ranging from 0001 to 9999. For allotment of a registration number in the running series, applicants are required to pay a fee of Rs 20,000, while those in the advance series must pay Rs 75,000.

High-end vehicle owners often seek registration numbers such as 0001, 1111, 777, 4444, 999, and others, which are particularly popular.