Number plates around the world – India

As in the UK all vehicles in India must have a number plate. They’re issued by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in each state. Some states even bar cars with plates from other states from entering certain areas. Commercial vehicles have yellow plates with black text, but a standard vehicle for personal use will have white plates with black text, both front and back. The only people allowed to drive without a license plate are the President and state governors who instead just have the emblem of India in gold on a red plate on their official cars.

The first two characters are letters that indicate the state within which the vehicle has been registered. Then follow two digits which is a sequential number issued by the RTO. Next follows the unique identifier for the vehicle. This is a series of four numbers, however when the RTO runs out of numbers it will be prefixed by letters to create further unique combinations.

In India license plates must be illuminated at night, and like here in the UK there are restrictions on the font that can be used for the characters on the plates.

Photo credit: kdinuraj / Foter.com / CC BY