All motorised road vehicles in India are tagged with a registration or licence number. The Vehicle registration plate (commonly known as number plate) number is issued by the district-level Regional Transport Office (RTO) of respective states — the main authority on road matters. The number plates are placed in the front and back of the vehicle. By law, all plates are required to be in modern Hindu-Arabic numerals with Latin letters. The international vehicle registration code for India is IND. Colour coding Permanent Registration Private vehicles: Private vehicles, by default, have black lettering on a white background (e.g. TN 75 AA 7106). Vehicles which run purely on electricity have white lettering on a green background (e.g. AP 21 BP 7331) Commercial vehicles: Commercial vehicles such as taxis, buses and trucks, by default, have black lettering on a yellow background (e.g. UP 19 D 0343). Vehicles available on rent for self-drive have yellow lettering on a black background (e.g. KA 08 J 9192). Vehicles which run purely on electricity have yellow lettering on a green background (e.g. MH 12 RN 1289) Vehicles belonging to foreign missions: Vehicles registered to an embassy or United Nations have white lettering on a blue background (e.g. 199 CD 1 and 23 UN 1 respectively). Vehicles registered to a consulate have yellow lettering on a blue background (e.g. 199 CC 999). Vehicles registered by Indian Armed Forces have white lettering starting with an arrow on a black background (e.g. ↑03D 153874H). Temporary Registration Unsold vehicles belonging to a vehicle manufacturer or a dealer have white lettering on a red background (e.g. HR 26 TC 7174). Sold vehicles awaiting a permanent registration have red lettering on a yellow background (e.g. TS 07 D TR 2020). Permanent Registration Format Private and Commercial Vehicles The current format for the registration of private and commercial consists of four parts: ; two alphabets which indicates the State or Union Territory to which the vehicle is registered. ; a two-digit number allocated to a district within the respective state or Union Territory. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, unique numbers may be allocated to multiple RTO offices within a single district. ; consists of one, two or three alphabets or may not exist at all. This shows the ongoing series of an RTO (also acts as a counter of the number of vehicles registered) and/or vehicle classification. Alphabets 'O' and 'I'