Decode any Indian vehicle registration code. Enter a code like MH01 or search by city/state to find the corresponding Regional Transport Office.
First two letters identify the state or UT - MH = Maharashtra, KA = Karnataka, DL = Delhi, etc.
Next 1–2 digits identify the specific RTO - MH01 = Mumbai-South, MH02 = Mumbai-West.
The remaining letters and digits form a unique vehicle identifier within that RTO's records.
India's vehicle registration system is administered by Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988. Each state is assigned a two-letter code (MH for Maharashtra, DL for Delhi, KA for Karnataka, TN for Tamil Nadu) followed by a two-digit district number. For example, MH01 is Mumbai Central, DL01 is Delhi South-West, and KA01 is Bengaluru Central. India had over 330 million registered vehicles as of March 2024, managed through approximately 1,500 RTOs and licensing offices across the country.
The full registration number format mandated by MoRTH is: XX-DD-A-NNNN, where XX is the state code, DD is the district serial number, A is an optional series letter, and NNNN is the 4-digit sequential number. High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP), made mandatory by the Supreme Court in 2019 and progressively enforced since 2021, include a chromium hologram and a laser-etched PIN to prevent tampering. BH-Series (Bharat Series) plates introduced in 2021 allow vehicles to be transferred between states without re-registration.
This finder covers 1,500+ RTO codes across all states and UTs. Use it to identify a vehicle's home state before purchasing a second-hand car, to verify courier vehicle authenticity, or for traffic violation lookups. Traffic police and insurance claim investigators also use RTO code references for incident documentation.