How to read an Indian vehicle number plate

A registration number looks like a random string, but each part has a meaning. Once you know the parts, you can tell where almost any vehicle was first registered.

The four parts

PB10AB1234

1. State letters (PB): two letters for the state or union territory. PB is Punjab. See the full list of state letters.
2. Office number (10): the registering office inside that state. PB-10 is one office, PB-11 another. This two-part code is what people call the RTO code.
3. Series letters (AB): one, two or sometimes three letters. When an office uses up 9999 numbers, it moves to the next letters.
4. Number (1234): a number from 1 to 9999. It is written with four digits, so 7 appears as 0007.

What the code tells you, and what it does not

The first two parts tell you which office first registered the vehicle. They do not tell you who owns it, where the owner lives now, or whether the vehicle has since been moved to another office. A car with a Delhi number may have been sold to someone in another state and still carry its DL number.

Bharat series: plates that start with digits

22BH1234AA

The Bharat (BH) series was introduced by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in 2021 for vehicles whose owners move between states. A BH plate has:

• two digits for the year of registration (22 is 2022),
• the letters BH,
• a number from 0001 to 9999,
• one or two letters at the end.

It carries no state letters and no office number, so there is no RTO code to look up. Check parivahan.gov.in for who may apply for a BH number, as the rules have been widened since 2021.

Colours of the plate

Private vehicles carry black letters on a white plate. Commercial vehicles such as taxis, buses and trucks carry black letters on a yellow plate. Battery vehicles carry a green plate. Other colours exist for rental, diplomatic and defence vehicles; check with the transport department for the exact rules.

Typing a number into this site

In the finder you can type the whole number, with or without spaces. It picks out the state letters and office number and shows the office.

Finding details of a vehicle

This site only explains codes. Details of a particular vehicle are shown by the government's own services: the mParivahan app and the vehicle details service on parivahan.gov.in.

Source and date. Offices, codes and dates are as listed on the public VAHAN dashboard of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on 11 November 2026. This site is not a government site. For any work at an RTO, check with the office or on parivahan.gov.in.

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