Hyderabad News: How much would you pay for a registration number of your choice for your shiny new car? Rs 5,000, 10,000, or even Rs 1 lakh? Well, a car owner in Telangana’s Hyderabad just splurged a whopping Rs 25.5 lakh to buy the fancy fancy registration number ‘9999’ at an online auction held by the Telangana State Road Transport Authority.
Officials said an online auction was held for fancy registration numbers, and the number ‘9999’ fetched the highest bid of Rs 25,50,002 by a car owner who paid the amount to the department for the registration plate ‘TG-09 9999’ for his high-end vehicle.
“Eleven people participated in the fancy number auction ‘9999’ held on Monday and the number fetched Rs 25.5 lakh. So far this is the highest bid amount for a fancy number, which is a record in Telangana,” Hyderabad Joint Transport Commissioner C Ramesh told news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, the news spread like wildfire on social media platforms, leaving users split whether someone should spend this absurd amount of money for something as “insignificant” as a simple number plate.
While some users defended a person’s right to spend their money whichever way the want, others argued that such ostentatious spending is the root of many social evils and the money could have put to better use like helping the poor.
“OMG , about 26 Lakhs for a fancy number instead l would have donated a 1BHK flat to,a poor needy family,bad luck for me because God did not made me rich,” said one user.
“What it signifies & why a person spend such huge cash. We understand every individual has a right to enjoy the physical luxury he can afford easily but spending such huge wealth for Self Ego or Status is that fine? If Charity makes sense,” wrote another user.
‘Waste of money,” a third chimed in.
Notably, in August last year, the number ‘9999’ had fetched Rs 21.6 lakh.
Officials said anyone interested in the fancy number can reserve it by paying Rs 50,000 and participate in the bidding if there are more bidders.
The Khairatabad Road Transport Authority (RTA) office clocked a revenue of over Rs 43 lakh during the auction for other fancy numbers on Monday, they said.
Earlier, in March this year, the Congress government in Telangana had changed the vehicle registration code to TG from TS.
(With PTI inputs)
