What a BH series number plate costs in India, and who can get one

If you move states for work every few years, the Bharat series registration mark saves you the re-registration run. You keep one number for the life of the vehicle, and instead of paying a state's lifetime tax upfront, you pay motor vehicle tax for two years at a time. The catch, after a Kerala High Court ruling in January 2025, is that the rate you are charged is the state's call, not the Centre's.

Who is eligible, and what the rate card says

The BH series covers fully built non-transport vehicles, so cars and two-wheelers, not goods or passenger carriers. Autocar India lists the eligible applicants as defence personnel, central and state government employees, central and state PSU employees, and private sector employees whose organisation has offices in at least four states or union territories. You do not have to have worked in all four. The company only has to be present there.

The rates in Rule 51B are set on invoice price excluding GST. Below ₹10 lakh it is 8 per cent, ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh is 10 per cent, and above ₹20 lakh is 12 per cent. Diesel adds two percentage points. Electric takes two off.

That percentage is not what you hand over at the counter. It feeds a formula: the two-year tax is the invoice price multiplied by the rate, multiplied by 1.25, divided by 15 years, then multiplied by two years. The 1.25 is the surcharge you pay for the pan-India convenience. From the fourteenth year, tax turns annual at half the two-year amount. Miss the renewal and the penalty is ₹100 per day after a seven-day grace period.

The steps

For a new vehicle, ask for BH registration at the dealership itself. The dealer files it on VAHAN with your invoice, identity and address proof. Private sector employees need Form 60, the working certificate that confirms the employer has offices in four or more states or union territories. Government staff need the prescribed official identity card or a service certificate. Vehicles under hypothecation or lease need the financier's papers too.

Already own the car? Since G.S.R. 879(E) of 14 December 2022, a regular registration can be converted to BH on payment of the tax due. Autocar India says the conversion goes in as Form 27A with the existing RC and your employment documents, and the registering authority verifies eligibility before approving. The number itself is generated randomly in the YY BH #### XX format. There is no fancy number to bid for.

Where it gets messy

In Harish Kumar KP v Union of India, decided in January 2025, Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh held that sub-rule (2) of Rule 51B, the one with the 8, 10 and 12 per cent slabs, is constitutionally unenforceable because taxes on motor vehicles sit with the states under Entry 57 of List II. Sub-rules (1) and (3) survive as principles. Practically, a state can insist on its own rate while still giving you the BH mark, which is exactly what the petitioners in Kerala were fighting about.

Access varies as well. MoRTH had to issue an advisory on 18 March 2024 telling registering authorities to comply with Rule 51B "in letter and spirit" and assign the mark to eligible owners, after complaints that states were refusing. Readers writing in to Autocar's advice column say dealers in Tamil Nadu still turn them away for want of a state order.

So treat BH as a convenience scheme, not a discount. In Bengaluru, where Karnataka's lifetime tax on a car runs high, the two-year instalment plan looks attractive on day one. Ask your RTO in writing what rate it will apply before you sign, and work out the fourteen-year total both ways.

Sources

• BH (Bharat) series number plate: Eligibility, cost, and how to apply, Autocar India
• BH Registered Vehicles Subject To Motor Vehicle Tax As Per State Law. Centre Can't Prescribe Tax Rates: Kerala High Court, LiveLaw
• MoRTH amends the rules governing Bharat (BH) series registration mark, G.S.R. 879(E), TeamLease RegTech
• Clarification issued in relation to assignment and usage of BH series registration mark, Legal 500
• Govt tweaks BH series rules, allows conversion from regular into Bharat series, The Tribune
• Govt notifies new BH registration series for personal vehicles, G.S.R. 594(E), TaxGuru