The economic impact of the pandemic has had little impact on the demand for fancy vehicle numbers. The Transport Department received its highest ever bid of ₹10.75 lakh for a fancy number – KA01 MV 0001 – during an auction that was conducted on Monday.
According to an official, the owner bid for the number for his Mercedes Benz. It includes a ₹75,000 fee fixed by the department.
The department auctioned various numbers, including ‘1’, ‘123’, ‘1234’, ‘7777’, ‘555’, ‘999’, ‘9090’ and ‘9999’.
“A total of 15 people made successful bids. The auction helped the department earn ₹18 lakh,” the official added.
The second highest bid was for registration number KA01 MV 9999, which was sold for ₹3.40 lakh. Another car owner paid ₹3 lakh for the number 0009.
An official of the Transport Department said, “Monday’s auction was the first one to happen after the imposition of lockdown, which has not affected the demand for fancy numbers.”
Buoyed by the success of the auction, the department is banking on demand to increase in the coming days. “Compared to other cities,demand for fancy numbers is higher in Bengaluru,” the official added.
As per the rule, bidders have till Wednesday to make the payment. If they fail to do so, they will forfeit the ₹75,000 fixed fee that they had to deposit prior to the auction.
The Transport Department has been auctioning fancy numbers since 2015 to increase revenue and stop illegal sale of the numbers at the RTO level.
