Bid for ‘fancy’ vehicle number hits ₹1.17 crore in Haryana

Man identified as Sudhir Kumar has so far paid ₹10,000 to participate in online auction; has some days to pay the rest for the number, HR-88-B-8888

Updated on: Nov 26, 2025, 20:17:33 IST

By HT News Desk

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The charm of special or “fancy” registration numbers for vehicles hit a new high in Haryana this week as HR-88-B-8888 saw the bid going up to ₹1.17 crore.

E-auction for fancy numbers is held on a central portal. (Image: Pixabay)

The bidder, who has only been identified by his name Sudhir Kumar, paid ₹10,000 required to participate in the process, and has until next week to deposit the bid amount, HT has learnt. Only after that, will the number be considered sold. Some reports said this is the highest bid ever for a fancy number in India, but that could not be independently verified.

As per process, Haryana holds online auctions for fancy numbers weekly, and bidding closes at 5 pm, Wednesday, on the portal fancy.parivahan.gov.in.

The number HR-88-B-8888 received the highest number of applications this week, at 45. The base price was set at ₹50,000.

HR-88 means the number is from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) of Kundli in the Sonipat district of Haryana.

The love for fancy numbers has grown to become a pan-India phenomenon over the years.

In April 2025, a businessman in Kerala acquired for ₹45.99 lakh the number KL-07-DG-0007 for his Lamborghini, a car priced at around ₹4 crore. The number ‘0007’ is usually seen as lucky in many cultures, and also has a James Bond connection.

Numbers go for huge prices as the bidders have varied reasons — from numerology to birthdays to a general fad for extreme uniqueness.

In Chandigarh in August this year, the number ‘0001’ of the CH01-DA series fetched a bid of ₹36.43 lakh against the reserve price of ₹50,000 in the e-auction conducted by the UT's Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA).

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