KA 03 RTO: Indiranagar RTO is at Kasturinagar

Indiranagar RTO is the old name for KA-03. The department’s website calls the office Bengaluru East (Kasturinagar), and that is where to go, not the Indiranagar BDA complex some listings still show.

On KA 03 AB 1234, the 03 is the Bengaluru East office at Kasturinagar, KA is Karnataka, AB is the series and 1234 is the four-digit number.

Worth knowing: A car registered when the office was listed in Indiranagar wears the same 03 as one registered at Kasturinagar now. A house move inside Karnataka keeps that 03 too, as the code changes only if the car is re-registered outside Karnataka or its registration details are changed.

Every KA-03 car sold new from 1 April 2019 onwards had its High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) fitted before delivery. Older Bengaluru East cars still need one installed.

The Karnataka Transport Department website names the booking portal to use, and it leads to the SIAM site, where an owner sees the date set for the car. Sticker colours and other plate details are on our Karnataka RTO guide.

Bengaluru East uses one code, KA-03, and the Kasturinagar name is part of its official title. East side codes people mix it up with are KA-53 for K.R. Puram and the eastern suburbs, and KA-61, which directories list for Marathahalli without any official confirmation.

Head for Kasturinagar, not Indiranagar. The department’s home page names this office Bengaluru East (Kasturinagar), and one directory gives CF-15, Outer Ring Road, near NGEF, Kasturinagar, while older directories still show a BDA complex in Indiranagar.

Why two names? An encyclopaedia entry records the office as previously located in Indiranagar, and the department now uses the Kasturinagar name, so listings that copy the old address send people to the wrong place.

What the Indiranagar RTO does not handle

Bengaluru East has no automated driving test track. The city’s two are at Jnanabharathi (KA-41) and Electronic City (KA-51), and the Sarathi booking names the venue, while autorickshaw permits and state transport buses are the KA-57 office’s work.

The department names KA-03 for East Bengaluru, and a list of the localities it covers could not be confirmed from an official source. Indiranagar is where the office used to be listed, which on its own settles nothing about an Indiranagar address; the code on an existing RC, or the dealer for a new car, decides it.

Worth knowing: Marathahalli turns up in directories with a code of its own, KA-61, which no official source confirms. For an address on the eastern edge of the city, ask the dealer whether the file goes to KA-03 or KA-53.

Whether you still call it Indiranagar RTO or use the Kasturinagar name, the KA-03 office applies the Karnataka lifetime tax, charged once at first registration. The cost band and whether the car is electric decide the rate, and company cars have no separate rate.

For a car arriving on another state’s registration, Karnataka tax falls due after more than 30 days in the state. Moving that registration to KA-03 then costs a share of the lifetime tax that drops with age, 93% for a car up to 2 years old and 25% for one past 15.

An electric car at the same ₹12 lakh price pays 8% under the bands in force since 1 May 2026; two-wheeler rules are on our Karnataka RTO guide.

Kasturinagar applies the same national fee list as every Karnataka office, whatever name you know it by. The money goes through the Vahan portal, and when the car is new the showroom handles it for you.

For example: Bring home a new car on a loan with a KA-03 number and the RTO fees total ₹2,300, which covers ₹600 for registration, ₹200 for the smart card RC and ₹1,500 for the loan entry, with road tax extra.

A KA-03 car’s renewal costs ₹5,000 from its 15th year and ₹10,000 after 20, and every month past the due date costs ₹500 more, or ₹300 on a motorcycle.

Choice numbers are where Kasturinagar stands out. The department has announced an open auction for the KA03 NU series at this office, and its 2021-22 annual report gives ₹20,000 for a number in the running series and ₹75,000 in an advance series.

Road tax, the cesses and the HSRP charge come on top.

The KA-03 number goes to cars whose owners live in the area Bengaluru East covers, and the dealer, not the owner, files the application on Vahan.

Transfers of KA-03 cars are handled by Bengaluru East at Kasturinagar, or begun on Vahan. Give the buyer Form 29 as the seller, sign Form 30 together, and pay ₹300 for a car or ₹150 for a motorcycle.

Within 14 days of the RC changing hands, the buyer should also have the policy moved.

Removing a loan (hypothecation) at Indiranagar RTO

With the loan repaid, take the financier’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) and Form 35 to Kasturinagar, or file them online; lifting the hypothecation carries no RTO fee. The whole checklist is kept on our Karnataka RTO guide.

For a KA-03 car, the Vahan portal is the starting point for vehicle services and the Sarathi portal for licences. Karnataka made 18 Vahan and 15 Sarathi services contactless from 1 November 2021.

Duplicate RC and RC status for KA-03 cars

Apply for a duplicate KA-03 RC on Form 26, with the fee from the fees table, and check any registration on the Kiwi Insurance RC status check.

Driving licence services for Indiranagar RTO

Licence work goes through Sarathi or a Bangalore One or Karnataka One centre, and automated driving tests happen at the Jnanabharathi and Electronic City tracks. Renewals are explained on our Karnataka RTO guide.

Any challan on a KA-03 car can be found and paid by entering the number on echallan.parivahan.gov.in or in mParivahan.

For any offence missing from the table, check our Karnataka RTO guide.

If your car already has a KA number, a move into East Bengaluru means a new address on the RC and nothing more. A car registered in another state owes Karnataka tax after more than 30 days here and must be re-registered once it has been kept in Karnataka beyond 12 months, with KA-03 for an address in this office’s area.

If you are leaving Karnataka, the NOC for a KA-03 car comes from Kasturinagar on Form 28. The state’s Act allows a refund of part of the lifetime tax at set rates when a car leaves, so ask Bengaluru East how to apply, and inform your insurer about the new registration.

Instead of KA-03, an owner who moves between states for work can have the dealer apply for a Bharat series (BH) number. No No Objection Certificate (NOC) is then needed for each later move.

Staff of a private company need Form 60 signed by the employer, and the company must have offices in 4 or more states or union territories. The format is YY BH #### XX, where YY is the year of first registration, the four digits are allotted at random, and XX represents the alphabetic series, which can be a single letter or two letters. It is black on a white plate, like any other private car.

Read our Karnataka RTO guide for who is eligible and the two-yearly BH tax.

Almost every form below is filed online on Vahan or Sarathi, and Kasturinagar needs a paper copy only if it asks for one.

For when each applies, see our Karnataka RTO guide; the list of RTO forms on the Parivahan Sewa website holds the rest.

How insurance links to the Indiranagar RTO

The East office registers a new car only with valid cover on file. When it changes an RC, for a new owner, a new address or a KA-03 number on an outside car, inform your insurer so that the two match.