0007 on number plate for Rs 2 lakh

There’s money to be made in numbers, and the Delhi transport department is going for the kill. Fancy car registration numbers will be available to all, but for a price as high as Rs 5 lakh. Atul Mathur reports.

There’s money to be made in numbers, and the Delhi transport department is going for the kill.

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So far the preserve of heavyweight politicos and the all-powerful bureaucrats, “VIP” and fancy car registration numbers will be available to all, but for a price as high as Rs 5 lakh.

The transport department has decided to sell the much-fancied numbers that have been spilt into seven categories.

The price varies from Rs 40,000 to Rs 5 lakh. There is only one number — 0001 — in the Rs 5lakh band. The remaining eight single-digit numbers (0002- 0009) and 786 have been priced at Rs 2 lakh each.

And if you fancy a number that doesn't figure in the any of the seven series, you pay 1% of the price of the vehicle.

“There is a complete ban on allotment of registration numbers from 0001 to 0099. To give equal opportunity to everyone, we have come up with a new policy,” an official said.

More than 1,000 cars are registered in Delhi every day. Officials believe the pay-for-your-number plan will add anything between Rs 50-60 crore a year to the state exchequer.

If the proposal is accepted by the Delhi cabinet, even politicians and bureaucrats will have to pay for “VIP” numbers for personal vehicles.