Do the different colours and patterns of the car number plates confuse you? Well, until you know which colour and text are for which vehicle, getting confused is pretty natural. But don't worry! This guide will help you identify all the number plates used in India. So, if you want to know about it, let's dig in.
White number plates with black lettering are the commonest number plate in India. This plate gets used in private vehicles. That means you cannot use a car with a white number plate for commercial purposes such as transporting goods, ferrying passengers, etc.
Like the white one, a yellow number plate also comes with black lettering. A yellow number plate of a vehicle indicates that the vehicle is for commercial use only. With a yellow number plate, the driver of the vehicle must have a commercial driving license and permit for driving such vehicles.
A green number plate usually gets used only in electric vehicles. But, here is again a catch. If you see a vehicle with a green number plate and white lettering, the vehicle is private and does not get used to transporting either goods or passengers. But, on the other hand, a green number plate with yellow lettering gets used for transporting commercial goods and other stuff.
Black number plates with yellow lettering get used in self-driven rented vehicles. However, it is related to the commercial purpose; the driver of a vehicle with a black number plate does not need a commercial driving permit.
All Indian test vehicles use Red number plates with white lettering. Other than that, if you see a car with a plain red number plate, that suggests that the vehicle belongs to the government of India. Furthermore, a red number plate containing a national emblem in it belongs to the President of India.
Vehicles with blue number plates and white letterings get issued by the respective authority to a vehicle reserved for foreign diplomats. All blue number plates come with the country code of the related country.
These number plates get found in defence vehicles.
HSRP refers to the High-Security Registration Plate. It is directly associated with the Central Motor Vehicle Rule, 1989. According to this rule, all vehicles that get registered after 1st April of 2019 have to contain this High-Security Registration Plate. The same is applicable to old vehicles with old number plates. HSRP only gets issued by the government. This way has successfully reduced the number of vehicle larceny in India. Additionally, with HSRP, India has made a digitized national database of all registered vehicles. Moreover, the use of this plate gets seen in all states of India. The plate usually gets made using aluminium with a unique laser etched code below the IND and the Ashoka Chakra hologram. The unique registration number gets hot-stamped at a 45-degree angle with the IND engraved. Furthermore, to provide the plate and the number more security, the HSRP gets secured with a snap-lock that transforms into a non-usable number once it gets tempered.
These were all important information about different types of number plates in India and HSRP. Now, when you know all the preliminary information about the number plates, their use, colour scheme, etc., hopefully, it will not be a hassle to identify the vehicles by their number plates for you anymore. Read more: Importance and functioning of RTO