New road for revenue: Want fancy number for your vehicle? Get ready for bidding war

CHENNAI: Eyeing to milk the demand for fancy numbers – known as special registration number in official parlance the State government has an e-bidding system to replace the existing first-come-first-served process.

The move, aimed at increasing transparency and boosting revenue, was formalised through amendments to the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, notified by the Home (Transport) Department on October 18. The e-bidding platform is expected to go live soon after the department completes the required technical integration, sources said.

The new online bidding process will assign registration numbers through an e-bidding mechanism instead of the manual allocation that is being followed now. The amendment follows Transport Minister SS Sivasankar’s announcement in the Assembly in June 2024 that the State would auction fancy registration numbers to enhance revenue.

Under the revised rules, vehicle owners seeking specific or attractive registration numbers must participate in the online auction by paying an entry fee of Rs 2,000, up from the existing Rs 1,000. The bid amount should be in multiples of Rs 500. The successful bidder must pay up within 48 hours of the auction result to reserve the chosen number. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of the reservation.

The registered vehicle must be produced within 30 days of reserving the number. If not, the reservation will lapse, and the number will be made available for routine allotment in the running series.

At present, people who want preferred registration numbers within the first 1,000 of a running series pay fixed fees - Rs 2,000 for two- and three-wheelers, Rs 10,000 for four-wheelers valued up to Rs 4 lakh, and Rs 16,000 for higher-value vehicles - at the Regional Transport Office. For advance or government-reserved numbers, applicants must apply to the Secretary, Home (Transport) Department, and pay charges ranging from Rs 40,000 to Rs 2,00,000 depending on the series.

A senior Transport Department official said that many vehicle owners prefer specific numbers not only because they are government-reserved but also due to personal reasons such as birth dates, anniversaries, beliefs, or lucky numbers.

K Kathirmathiyon, secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause, said that under the existing system, even if several applicants sought the same government-reserved number, only one person would receive it by paying the fixed amount. “The new e-bidding system will bring in more transparency and help the government generate higher revenue when multiple bidders compete for the same number,” he said.

Officials said the new system would reduce manual intervention, prevent favouritism, and enhance the State’s non-tax revenue through digital allocation of registration numbers.

Several other states, including Maharashtra and Delhi, have already implemented online bidding systems for fancy vehicle numbers.