History of Number Plates in India

All of the motorized road vehicles in the country are being tagged with a license or registration number. This license plate or also usually referred to as the number plate is the number being issued by every district level of the RTO or Regional Transport Office of the respective states and this is also the primary authority that is in charge of the road matters. The license plates are being placed in the back and front of the vehicle. According to the law, all of the plates are being required to be in the modern Arabic numerals combined with the Latin letters. The other guidelines include the need to have the plate lit up during the night as well as the restriction of the type of fonts that can be used. There are certain states in which cars that bear outside plates are being barred from entering the restricted areas.

From the year 1914 to 1939, one letter is being issued that comes with four numbers. From the year 1939 to 1947, two letters together with four numbers scheme was followed. From the year 1947 to the later part of the 1980s, the license plate system followed the scheme of three letters and four numbers.

During the early 2000s, the coloring scheme for number plate has changed from white over black to black over white for the private non-commercial vehicles as well as from black over white to black over yellow for the rest of the vehicles. The use of the older color scheme has been made illegal following a period during which the two styles have been tolerated.