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Chandigarh, Haryana – As the bidder who secured the fancy number plate "HR88B8888" for a staggering Rs 1.17 crore failed to complete the payment, the authorities have put up the number plate for re-auction. The number, which last week captured headlines for its sale price, has now returned to the online auction floor.
Sudhir Kumar, Director of transportation service Romulus Solutions Private Limited, emerged as the final bidder for the VIP number after a nail-biting online auction. The deal, sealed at Rs 1.17 crore, unofficially crowned "HR88B8888" as India's most expensive number plate. However, the deadline to remit the colossal sum, set for December 1st at 12 pm, passed unmet.
Kumar, on Sunday, attributed the default to a "technical glitch" that prevented him from depositing the bid amount twice on Saturday night. Compounding the issue, he revealed that his family expressed reservations about such an extravagant expenditure on a mere number plate. "Discussions are currently underway with the family," Kumar was quoted as saying by NDTV.
"Elders in the family feel it is not a wise decision to spend such a large amount on a number plate, while my opinion is in favour of it. We will make a final decision by Monday," he added. This domestic discord appears to have ultimately tipped the scales against the landmark purchase.
Haryana's transportation department regularly holds online auctions for VIP and fancy number plates, a process that typically runs from Friday evening to Monday morning, with results announced on Wednesday afternoon. The platform for these high-stakes transactions is the official fancy.parivahan.gov.in portal.
This past week's star attraction, "HR88B8888," drew an unprecedented 45 bidders, far surpassing any other number on the list. What began with a modest reserve price of Rs 50,000 rapidly escalated, with bids climbing by the minute until it reached the mind-boggling Rs 1.17 crore mark.
The extraordinary appeal of "HR88B8888" lies in its striking visual symmetry. The "HR" prefix denotes Haryana, while "88" signifies the RTO district. The letter "B," in its uppercase form, visually resembles the digit "8." The pièce de résistance, however, is the "8888" sequence, a repeating four-digit number highly sought after by collectors and luxury car owners, often associated with luck, prosperity, and elevated status.
