What are Bharat-series vehicle registration plates? Decoded

Moving to a new city is not easy. From finding a house to figuring out the commute and language, among other things, can all be a bit too much. And, if you happen to own a vehicle and are moving to another state, the paperwork gets multiplied. 

You have to first get a no-objection certificate from your current state of residence, and then you have to get your vehicle re-registered in the state where you are relocating. You also would have to pay road tax in the new state all over again. This hassle does even prompt some vehicle owners to, well, leave their vehicles behind… just to skip or postpone the extra work.

To address this pain point for vehicle owners, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has come up with the new Bharat Series or BH-Series of licence registration plates. 

Those in railways, defence or other such transferable jobs would benefit from the BH-Series licence plates, as it would do away with the lengthy paperwork needed to get a vehicle across state borders.

Here’s how the present system works:

After getting an NOC from the parent state of the vehicle, the vehicle owner has to apply for re-registration in the new state within 12 months of moving 

When one buys a vehicle, they pay the road tax for 15 years, which is the life of a vehicle, upfront

But if they shift to a new state after 5 years, they have to apply to the parent state of the vehicle for a refund of the road tax for the remaining 10 years

The road tax for the remaining 10 years is then paid to the new state government where the vehicle is relocated 

Highlights of BH-Series plates

The new system of allotting BH Series registration to vehicles will be completely online. A typical BH number may look like “21 BH XXXX AA”. The first two digits denote the year of the first registration, BH is the code for the series, the four numbers (XXXX) are randomly generated, and then there are two letters of the English alphabet.