A routine weekly auction in Haryana turned extraordinary after the registration number HR-88B-8888 sold for a record ₹1.17 crore, making it the most expensive vehicle number plate ever purchased in India.
The bidding, which closed at 5 pm on Wednesday, drew intense competition throughout the day. As many as 45 applicants participated, pushing the base price of ₹50,000 to the final winning bid of over one crore. By noon, the number had already crossed ₹88 lakh before touching the unprecedented amount.
Haryana conducts online auctions every week for VIP or fancy registration numbers on the fancy.parivahan.gov.in portal. Last week, the highest bid was for HR-22W-2222, which sold for ₹37.91 lakh — far lower than this week’s record.
The appeal of HR-88B-8888 comes from its rare visual pattern. With the letter B resembling the number 8, the plate appears like a continuous string of eights, a number widely associated with prosperity and good fortune in several cultures.
The soaring demand for such premium plates reflects a growing trend across India, where unique or symbolic registration numbers are seen as status symbols. Earlier this year, Kerala tech entrepreneur Venu Gopalakrishnan paid ₹45.99 lakh for the plate KL-07-DG-0007 for his Lamborghini, adding to the rising craze for high-value registrations.