India’s costliest car registration number, HR88B8888, was sold for Rs 1.17 crore during Haryana’s weekly online auction for VIP number plates on Wednesday. The auction, conducted entirely on the government portal fancy.parivahan.gov.in, allows bidders to apply for special numbers between Friday evening and Monday morning, with final bids closing on Wednesday at 5 pm.
This week, HR88B8888 drew the highest interest, receiving 45 applications. Starting at a base price of Rs 50,000, the bid rose quickly, touching Rs 88 lakh by noon before settling at over Rs 1 crore. Last week, another fancy number, HR22W2222, sold for Rs 37.91 lakh.
The premium number stands out visually because the uppercase ‘B’ resembles the digit 8, making the sequence appear as a unique string of eights. The breakdown of the number is: HR for Haryana, 88 for the specific RTO, B for the series, and 8888 as the four-digit registration number.
In April this year, Kerala-based tech billionaire Venu Gopalakrishnan made headlines after securing the VIP registration number “KL 07 DG 0007” for his Lamborghini Urus Performante at a staggering Rs 45.99 lakh. The auction for the number began at Rs 25,000 but escalated rapidly, eventually setting a new benchmark for premium license plate sales. The coveted “0007” sequence, often associated with James Bond, added to the allure and exclusivity of the purchase, further enhancing Gopalakrishnan’s status in Kerala’s luxury car circuit.
Who is Venu Gopalakrishnan?
He is the founder and CEO of Litmus 7 Systems Consulting Pvt. Ltd., a Kochi-based IT firm.
According to reports, in August this year, Gopalakrishnan was booked on multiple charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman and issuing threats. The case was registered after he accused his former personal assistant and her husband of attempting to extort money from him.
