Kanpur RTO: UP-78 Kanpur Nagar office and areas

Kanpur Nagar district registers its vehicles under one code, UP-78, at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Kanpur Nagar. The part that catches people out is next door. Kanpur Dehat is a separate district with its own code, UP-77, and Unnao across the Ganga has UP-35, so a Kanpur-sounding address does not always mean a UP-78 plate.

UP 78 AB 1234 is how a typical Kanpur plate looks. The first pair of letters, UP, names the state, and 78 tells you the car was registered in Kanpur Nagar. AB is the letter series, and 1234 is the four-digit number that no other UP-78 vehicle in that series shares.

Worth knowing: Spot a 77 where you expected 78 and you are looking at a Kanpur Dehat car, registered at Akbarpur. A UP-78 number stays on the car when the owner shifts to Lucknow, Unnao or anywhere else in Uttar Pradesh. It is replaced only if the car is registered again in another state or its registration details are changed.

Every new car registered at UP-78 leaves the showroom with a High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) fitted by the dealer. Rule 50 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 has made this the norm for new vehicles since 1 April 2019.

Worth knowing: Driving an older Kanpur car without one? The Uttar Pradesh Transport Department website names the booking portal to use for the installation and the date set for older vehicles. Our Uttar Pradesh RTO guide has the plate rules in full.

The Transport Department list has one code for Kanpur Nagar, UP-78. Kanpur Dehat, with almost the same name, is a different district and a different office, so its cars carry UP-77.

On the state page, both Kanpur codes appear in the Kanpur and Jhansi divisions group, alongside Kannauj, Etawah and Auraiya. Unnao, which faces Kanpur across the Ganga, is grouped with Lucknow instead and has UP-35.

All UP-78 work ends up at one office, the RTO Kanpur Nagar. One directory lists it in Sarvodaya Nagar. We could not confirm the address or timings from an official source, so treat the details below as a starting point and confirm them before a trip across the city.

Kanpur RTO office, UP-78

The office is listed in Sarvodaya Nagar. One directory gives a different street for it, which is one more reason to check before you set out.

Is there a second transport office in Kanpur?

Not for registration. A staff directory lists a zone-level post, DTC (Zone), at Kanpur alongside the RTO staff, which suggests the city is also a zone headquarters of the Transport Department. That post supervises, it does not register cars, and the official list gives Kanpur Nagar no code other than UP-78.

The district on your address proof settles it. If it says Kanpur Nagar, the car is registered at UP-78. If it says Kanpur Dehat or Unnao, the car goes to that district’s office instead, however close the address is to Kanpur.

Still unsure? Look at the code on the RC, or enter the registration number in the finder at the top of this page.

Worth knowing: Shuklaganj is a common case. It is reported to be part of Unnao district, though people often treat it as a Kanpur suburb, so a car kept there would be registered at Unnao. Check the district printed on your address proof before the dealer applies.

The RTO Kanpur Nagar charges the same national fees as the Kanpur Dehat office at Akbarpur, so there is nothing to gain by registering on one side of the district line or the other. Fees are paid on Vahan, and the dealer pays them on a new car as part of the registration.

A Kanpur example: A first car bought on a loan and registered at UP-78 pays ₹2,300 in RTO fees. That is ₹600 for registration, ₹200 for the smart card RC and ₹1,500 to note the loan on the RC, and road tax comes on top.

Keep the same car past 15 years and its registration renewal costs ₹5,000, or ₹10,000 after 20 years. Miss the renewal date and the RTO adds ₹500 for every month of delay on a car, or ₹300 on a motorcycle.

Worth knowing: Your Vahan receipt can show more than these Rule 81 fees. Road tax, the High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) and any Uttar Pradesh service or postal charge are added separately.

The showroom files the application on Vahan, and the UP-78 office approves it

Buying your first car in Kanpur, you will rarely need to visit the RTO yourself. The dealer files the registration on Vahan using your Kanpur Nagar address, and once the UP-78 office approves it, the car gets its number.

Selling within Uttar Pradesh does not change a UP-78 number. The seller gives notice on Form 29, both sign Form 30, and the ₹300 car fee is paid on Vahan, with the office on the RC doing the transfer.

If the buyer is based outside Uttar Pradesh, the UP-78 office first issues a No Objection Certificate (NOC), and the buyer’s own state then gives the car a new number. In both cases the policy must pass to the new owner within 14 days.

Clearing a loan (hypothecation) from a Kanpur RC

After the final instalment, the bank issues a No Objection Certificate and Form 35. Upload both on Vahan and the UP-78 office issues a new RC without the loan, free. The paperwork needed is listed on our Uttar Pradesh RTO guide.

Save a trip to the UP-78 office where you can. Vehicle work starts on the Vahan portal and licence work on the Sarathi portal, and a vehicle application then goes to the UP-78 office for approval.

Duplicate RC and RC status check in Kanpur

Lost or damaged the RC of a UP-78 car? The replacement is requested on Form 26 through Vahan and costs ₹300 for a car. To check your RC status, use the Kiwi Insurance tool.

Driving licence services in Kanpur

A Kanpur learner’s licence application, the test booking and later renewals all begin on Sarathi. Only the driving test itself needs you in person. Our Uttar Pradesh RTO guide covers each licence service in more detail.

Drive a UP-78 car without insurance and the fine is the national one in section 196 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as amended in 2019. That means ₹2,000 for a first offence and ₹4,000 for any repeat.

Uttar Pradesh may compound some offences at its own rates, so go by the amount on the challan. Kanpur challans can be looked up and settled on echallan.parivahan.gov.in or through the mParivahan app. Other fines are listed on our Uttar Pradesh RTO guide.

A car coming from Lucknow, Agra or anywhere else in Uttar Pradesh needs no new number in Kanpur, only an address update. A car from another state may run on its old number for 12 months, and by then it must be registered at UP-78.

If you are leaving Uttar Pradesh with a UP-78 car, you follow these steps in reverse order, starting at the Kanpur office. It issues the No Objection Certificate (NOC) on Form 28, your new state registers the car, and you can apply to get back the unused part of the UP road tax.

Worth knowing: Inform your insurer twice, once when the address changes and again when the new UP-78 number is issued. How to claim a tax refund is explained on our Uttar Pradesh RTO guide.

Posted to Kanpur, with another state next? The Bharat series (BH) has no state code, so a later move needs no No Objection Certificate (NOC) or new number. Eligibility covers government, defence and public sector employees, plus private sector employees whose employer runs offices in 4 or more states or union territories and who file Form 60.

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. BH tax falls due every 2 years, at 8% on a car under ₹10 lakhs, as our Uttar Pradesh RTO guide explains.

The UP-78 office works with the same national forms as every RTO. These days most are completed online on Vahan or Sarathi, with the PDF kept for the odd office that wants a paper copy.

Each form goes to the office on your RC, which for a Kanpur Nagar car is UP-78. For a form missing from this grid, go to the Parivahan Sewa website.