Kerala MVD's modification drive has collected ₹12.66 crore in fines in 2026, with ₹5,000 charged per illegal change

If you are saving up to send a Classic 350 to a custom shop, the numbers coming out of Kerala are worth reading twice. A report published on 14 October 2026 put the Motor Vehicles Department's modification enforcement for the year at over 10,000 vehicles and ₹12.66 crore in fines. Between May and August 2026 alone, 7,360 vehicle owners were penalised and ₹5.7 crore was collected. Bikes, scooters and buses account for most of the cases, which tells you where the enforcement pressure actually falls.

What the drive is looking for

The statewide drive began in August, following directions from the Kerala High Court, and the department's instruction was blunt: ₹5,000 for each illegal modification found on a vehicle, under Section 52 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Paying the fine is not the end of it. The owner has to strip the illegal parts off and present the vehicle for re-inspection before it can legally go back on the road.

The target list reported in August covers oversized tyres, high-intensity LED light bars, unauthorised red and blue strobes, and exhausts that are either too loud or throw flames. The Transport Commissionerate also asked Regional Transport Offices to report action taken against people using illegally modified vehicles in social media reels, with those reports due by 3 September. Regional transport offices in other states do not all work this way, but Kerala's model of fining per modification, then demanding re-inspection, is the one builders and owners elsewhere should expect to see copied.

The legal route still exists

The same 14 October report makes a point that gets lost in the outrage cycle. Changes to the engine, the chassis and the body colour can be done legally, by taking approval in advance and having the change entered in the RC. Adaptations for riders with disabilities are allowed on the same basis. The problem is not modification as a category, it is modification that is never recorded and never inspected.

That matters for the organised end of the Indian custom scene. Royal Enfield's own Custom World programme lists Indian workshops including Rajputana Custom Motorcycles in Jaipur, Bombay Custom Works, Jedi Customs, Mean Green Customs and Maratha Motorcycles in Mumbai, Bulleteer Customs in Bengaluru, EIMOR Customs in Hyderabad, TNT Motorcycles in Delhi and J&D Custom Co in Vadodara. A shop at that level can tell you which part of a build is paperwork and which part will get your bike impounded. A roadside shop fitting a free-flow silencer for ₹3,000 will not.

Show season starts next month

This is also the season when custom bikes come out of the workshops. Royal Enfield's Motoverse runs from 27 to 29 November at HillTop, Vagator in Goa, with custom builds on display and awards for Best Custom Bike and Most Popular Custom Bike. India Bike Week follows on 4 and 5 December at Panchgani, where a Mod Bike Competition will be judged by Arjun Raina and the Jameson Ginger Ale X IBW Bike Build-Off gives amateur builders 50 days, a set budget and a Harley-Davidson X440T, with mentoring from Harsh Man Rai, Anand Dharmaraj and Shail Sheth. The winner travels to the Adventure Bike Rider Festival in 2027.

A show bike still has to get to the show. If a build carries an unapproved exhaust, a wider than stock tyre or a colour that does not match the RC, the ride down to Goa or up the Panchgani ghat is where it will be stopped. Trailering is not a cop-out. In 2026 it is the cheaper option.

Sources

• Vehicle modification: MVD intensifies crackdown, crores collected in fines within a few months (Express Kerala, 14 October 2026)
• Kerala MVD begins statewide crackdown on vehicles with illegal modifications (Madhyamam, 25 August 2026)
• Royal Enfield Custom World builder listing
• Royal Enfield Motoverse 2026, 27 to 29 November, Vagator, Goa
• India Bike Week 2026 to return to Panchgani on December 4 to 5 (BikeWale)