Haryana sets record as ‘HR88B8888’ becomes India’s costliest number plate at ₹1.17 crore

The state hosts weekly online auctions for VIP or “fancy” number plates through the official portal fancy.parivahan.gov.in. 

 

Bidders can apply between Friday 5 pm and Monday 9 am, after which the real contest begins, culminating with results on Wednesday evening.

 

Starting at a base price of ₹50,000, the bid surged minute by minute, touching ₹88 lakh by noon, before finally closing at ₹1.17 crore at 5 pm.

Last week’s top bid — HR22W2222 — had fetched ₹37.91 lakh, a figure now dwarfed by the new record.

What makes HR88B8888 special?

The number stands out visually, almost resembling a seamless string of eights — with the uppercase “B” sharing a shape similar to the digit 8.
Here’s what it signifies:

HR – Vehicle registered in Haryana

88 – Specific RTO/district code

B – Vehicle series

8888 – Unique registration number

The combination, considered auspicious and rare, drove the bid into record territory.

Luxury number craze rising across India

This isn’t the first time a premium number has made headlines. 

 

In April, Kerala tech billionaire Venu Gopalakrishnan purchased “KL 07 DG 0007” — reminiscent of the James Bond code — for ₹45.99 lakh for his Lamborghini Urus Performante.

With VIP number auctions attracting million-rupee bids, India’s luxury vehicle owners are increasingly using number plates as status symbols — and Haryana’s latest sale shows the craze is only growing.