Why doesn't every Indian state have VA vintage registration yet?

Because the rule that created VA registration never actually registered a single car itself. In July 2021 the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways amended the Central Motor Vehicles Rules to let vehicles over 50 years old get a vintage VA number plate. But the amendment did one thing only at the national level: it told every state to set up its own committee to run the scheme. Five years on, some states are still doing that. Uttar Pradesh only began taking applications in September 2025. Himachal Pradesh's transport minister announced its version of the scheme as recently as 25 February 2026.

What the 2021 rule actually created

MoRTH had been talking about a vintage category since at least December 2019, when it first floated a VA plate and a one time fee of ₹20,000. A formal draft followed on 25 November 2020 under notification GSR 734(E), inviting public comments. The final version came as the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021, notified as GSR 492(E) on 15 July 2021 and effective the next day.

That notification inserted rules 81A to 81G into the 1989 rules. A vehicle qualifies if it is more than 50 years old from its date of first registration and has not had its chassis, body shell or engine substantially changed. It gets a plate in the format state code, then VA, then a two letter series and a four digit number, for example MH VA AA 3112. The certificate costs ₹20,000 and runs for 10 years, with renewal at ₹5,000 for five years after that. The vehicle cannot be driven for daily or commercial use, only for rallies, shows, museums and similar purposes.

Crucially, the rule also created two bodies at state level: a Vintage Motor Vehicles State Committee, or VMVSC, to decide whether a vehicle is genuinely original, and a Vintage Motor Vehicles State Registering Authority to actually issue the plate once the committee signs off. Neither existed before the amendment. Each state had to constitute its own.

Why the rollout is so slow

A central gazette notification binds the central government. It does not, by itself, give a Regional Transport Office in Lucknow or Shimla the staff, the inspection format or the standing order it needs to start accepting Form 20 applications under rule 81A. That has to come from the state transport department, often as its own order or standard operating procedure referencing the MoRTH rule.

Uttar Pradesh's transport department only notified its own process in 2025, more than four years after GSR 492(E). Owners submit applications to their local RTO, where a motor vehicle inspector verifies originality and photographs the vehicle, with a 60 day processing window. In Himachal Pradesh, deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri said in February 2026 that old vehicles registered before 1950 and before 1975 would get VA plates and would not be scrapped, as the state folded vintage registration into a wider push to digitise its transport department. That is close to five years after the rule it is implementing.

What this means if you own a classic

If your state has not yet notified its VMVSC and SOP, there is no VA plate to apply for, whatever the central gazette says. The practical step is to ask your RTO directly whether the committee exists yet, rather than assume the 2021 rule is automatically live everywhere. Clubs such as the VCCCI track which states are functional and are often the fastest way to find out before you go to the RTO.

Sources

• New registration rules for vintage and classic vehicles in India announced
• Vintage cars in India will soon get special registration numbers
• Vintage Vehicles: MoRTH invites public comments for proposed rules on registering vintage vehicles
• Good News For Vintage Car, Bike Owners In UP, Govt Begins Registrations For Vehicles Over 50 Years Old
• Himachal Pradesh to introduce special vintage vehicle registration amid transport digitalisation