The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) refuted news that the registration of new vehicles has been stopped from May 2, 2019. This news was preceded by a notification from the government, banning access to the new Vahan 4.0 application because it allowed registration of new vehicles without the new High Security Registration Plates (HSRPs).

Industry sources told our sister publication, Autocar Professional, that the notification mandating new vehicles to be sold with HSRP has come into effect and the backend system to enforce this mandate has already been put in place by Regional Transport Offices (RTO) in most parts of the country. This system allows authorised dealers to register newly sold vehicles with the RTO and the customers can get their issued number plate at the dealership.

After the car has been purchased, the local Regional Transport Office (RTO) assigns the number, which is then submitted to the vendor. The vendor delivers the HSRP to the dealer within 24hr. The person handling the delivery drills holes into the plates and fixes them to the car using rivets. Photos of the chassis number and the plates are then uploaded on the Vahan app. Both plates (front and rear) have a unique laser-etched serial number; and a sticker with the vehicle details is fixed on the windscreen.

New cars sold after May 2, 2019 must have HSRPs installed. The dealership can be fined if a vehicle is spotted without these. Also, in case a vehicle has bodywork damage around the bumper area and requires repainting, the existing plates have to be removed and new plates must be ordered by paying a fee.

Given the current slowdown in the overall domestic automobile market, the purported move of banning new vehicle registration would have led to considerable challenges both for OEMs and dealers.

It has been learnt that while the new system has been implemented in major parts of the country, there are few areas where the linkage has not been completed and dealerships will temporarily follow the earlier practice – at least until the new system is linked.