Uttar Pradesh RTO codes and offices: UP-11 to UP-96

Uttar Pradesh RTOs are run by the state Transport Department, which gives each district its own UP code. A car registered in Lucknow has a number that starts with UP 32, and a car registered in Kanpur has one that starts with UP 78: UP for the state, then the code of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) that registered it.

Picture a Lucknow car with the number UP 32 AB 1234. From left to right, UP stands for Uttar Pradesh, 32 for the Lucknow RTO and AB for the letter series, and 1234 is the four-digit number. On a car registered in Kanpur, 78 takes the place of 32.

Most districts have one code, but Lucknow and Varanasi each have a second office with its own code, UP-32A and UP-65A. A Lucknow car can carry either UP-32 or UP-32A, depending on which office registered it.

A Lucknow car keeps its UP-32 code when the owner moves to Kanpur or to any other district of Uttar Pradesh. A new code comes only with registration outside Uttar Pradesh or a change to the car’s registration details.

Worth knowing: A UP-78 plate from Kanpur is valid on roads across India. The code shows the office that first registered the car, not where the car is today.

A new car registered at the Lucknow RTO leaves the showroom with a High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) already fitted. Since 1 April 2019, the manufacturer and dealer fit this plate on every new vehicle, as Rule 50 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 requires.

HSRP for a UP car registered before April 2019

Take a Kanpur car first registered at UP-78 in 2016. It needs an HSRP as well, installed by the date that Uttar Pradesh sets for older vehicles. For a Lucknow or Kanpur owner, the rule rests on G.S.R. 1162(E) and S.O. 6052, notified by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on 4 and 6 December 2018.

Worth knowing: Book an HSRP installation for your car on the booking portal named on the Uttar Pradesh transport department website, and check there which date applies to your UP vehicle.

Uttar Pradesh RTO codes run from UP-11 for Saharanpur to UP-96 for Chitrakoot Dham, with one code for each district and two extra codes, UP-32A and UP-65A. For a car kept in Kanpur Nagar, that is UP-78, as the office is decided by the address on the Registration Certificate (RC).

This list follows the Uttar Pradesh Transport Department’s own RTO code page. Some offices are named after the district headquarters town, such as Bahjoi for Sambhal (UP-38) and Orai for Jalaun (UP-92).

Noida RTO uses UP-16, Ghaziabad RTO uses UP-14 and Lucknow uses UP-32, with UP-32A for its Trans Gomti office at Mahanagar. Among the other large cities, Meerut has UP-15 and Kanpur has UP-78.

Noida and Ghaziabad have their own guides, with the localities each office serves. Open the Noida RTO guide or the Ghaziabad RTO guide below.

Some Uttar Pradesh RTOs are searched for by city more often than by code. A Kanpur or Agra office handles the same work as any other UP RTO: Registration, driving licences and road tax.

Kanpur RTO (UP-78)

Kanpur RTO has the code UP-78 for Kanpur Nagar district. Kanpur Dehat has its own office at Akbarpur with the code UP-77.

Agra RTO (UP-80)

A car registered in Agra carries UP-80. The districts next to it have offices of their own, with UP-85 for Mathura and UP-83 for Firozabad.

Varanasi RTO (UP-65 and UP-65A)

Varanasi RTO has the code UP-65, and its additional office uses UP-65A. Chandauli, next to Varanasi, uses UP-67.

Prayagraj RTO (UP-70)

Cars registered in Prayagraj carry UP-70. The district was earlier called Allahabad, and the code did not change with the new name.

A new car or two-wheeler registered in Lucknow or Kanpur pays road tax once, at its first registration in the state, as a percentage of its ex-showroom price. Cars pay 8% to 11% and two-wheelers pay 7% or 9%, depending on the price, and electric vehicles pay no road tax until October 2027. For an EV purchased after 14 October 2025, the April 2025 notification gave that relief only to vehicles manufactured within Uttar Pradesh; a November 2025 notification is said to extend it to every electric vehicle, so look at the amount on Vahan first.

Take a Lucknow car with AC at ₹8 lakhs ex-showroom: It pays 9%, which is ₹72,000. A Kanpur buyer of a ₹12 lakhs car pays 11%, or ₹1,32,000.

On a motorcycle priced at ₹90,000 ex-showroom, the 9% rate applies, so the tax is ₹8,100.

The state can revise these rates, so a Lucknow buyer should check the amount Vahan shows before paying.

Registering a new car at the Kanpur RTO costs ₹600, and a duplicate Registration Certificate (RC) for that car costs ₹300. These amounts come from Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, a national rule, so the Lucknow RTO and every other UP office charge the same.

Paid separately: The HSRP, UP road tax and any state service charge are not part of these fees. Each one is shown as its own item on Vahan before you pay.

Buy a new car from a dealer in Lucknow and the dealer applies to register it on the Vahan portal, so in most cases the car never goes to the RTO. Road tax and the registration fee are paid along with the price, and the Registration Certificate (RC) is issued once the RTO approves the application.

Important to know: A buyer in Kanpur can arrange car insurance before delivery day. The dealer has to see a valid policy before registering the car, but you are free to buy that policy elsewhere.

Say an owner in Kanpur sells a UP-78 car. The RC has to move into the buyer’s name, through Vahan or at the Kanpur RTO, the office on the RC. The RTO charges ₹300 to transfer a car.

From that day, the Kanpur buyer has 14 days to get the insurance moved into their own name.

Removing a loan (hypothecation) from the RC in Uttar Pradesh

A Lucknow car bought on a bank loan has the loan recorded on its RC through Form 34. When the last instalment is paid, the lender hands over a No Objection Certificate (NOC) and Form 35. The owner applies on Vahan with both, and the Lucknow RTO issues a new RC with no loan on it.

A Kanpur owner can begin most RTO work from home. Car and bike services, such as road tax, an ownership transfer or a new address, go through the Vahan portal. Driving licence services go through the Sarathi portal. Both are on the Parivahan Sewa website, and a visit to the RTO is still needed for steps such as the driving test.

Duplicate RC and RC status check in Uttar Pradesh

Say the RC of a UP-32 car from Lucknow is lost, stolen or damaged. The owner applies for a duplicate on Form 26 through Vahan, and the fee for a car is ₹300, as the fees table shows. Parivahan Sewa and mParivahan show where any UP registration stands, or you can check your RC status on Kiwi Insurance.

Driving licence services in Uttar Pradesh

A learner in Kanpur and a driver renewing a licence in Lucknow both use Sarathi. It handles the learner’s licence, the driving test booking, licence renewal and the International Driving Permit, and the paper forms are Form 2 and Form 4A in the forms section below.

A driver stopped in Lucknow without valid insurance can be fined ₹2,000 for a first offence and ₹4,000 for a later one. The amounts below are the national ones in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the state can compound some offences at its own amounts, so the challan shows what is actually due.

To see whether a Kanpur car has a pending challan, enter its UP number or the challan number on the Parivahan e-challan portal, echallan.parivahan.gov.in, or in mParivahan, and pay it there.

Worth knowing: Of these fines, driving uninsured is the one a valid policy prevents. The car insurance section below explains how a UP policy works with the RTO.

If you are leaving Uttar Pradesh with a Lucknow car, get the NOC from the UP-32 office before you go. After the new state registers the car, the unused part of the UP road tax can be claimed back from Uttar Pradesh.

A Bharat series (BH) number is a registration that is valid in all states, which is why a BH plate shows no UP code or any other state code. When the owner of a BH car moves from Lucknow to another state, there is no need for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) or a new number. It suits people who are transferred often, such as a central government employee posted to Kanpur. The series has existed since 15 September 2021, when G.S.R. 594(E) of 26 August 2021 from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways came into force.

The tax is charged in 2-year blocks. A Lucknow car with AC costing ₹8 lakhs on a regular UP number instead pays UP road tax of 9% once, which is ₹72,000.

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. A BH car that leaves Uttar Pradesh needs no new registration, and there is no UP road tax refund to claim. A later notification, G.S.R. 879(E) of 14 December 2022, allows a BH car to be sold to a new owner and an existing number to be converted to the series.

A form filed at the Lucknow RTO is the same as one filed in any other state, as the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 set the forms for all of India. Today, most of them are completed online through Vahan or Sarathi. If a Lucknow office still requires a paper form, the PDF behind each card can be printed from the Parivahan Sewa website.

A used car sold in Kanpur needs Form 29 and Form 30 together. The buyer’s 14 days to move the insurance start once the RC is in their name.

Worth knowing: Forms go to the RTO whose code is on your RC, so a UP-32 car is handled in Lucknow and a UP-16 car in Noida. Some services also ask for address proof or a PUC certificate, so read the document list on the Parivahan Sewa website first. For any form missing from this grid, see every RTO form on the Parivahan Sewa website.

Worth knowing: A used UP-32 car bought in Lucknow stays covered from the day it changes hands if the RC and the policy are both moved within those two weeks.