Hyderabad:
The Andhra Pradesh government is playing the number game to improve the numbers in its coffers. Exploiting the fancy among Telugus to own a vehicle with a fancy registration number, the transport department's auctions now earn it a whopping Rs 2 crore annually.
9999 is the most sought after number in the state. Motorists are so keen on getting the fancy number that the number was recently auctioned for six and a half lakh rupees. The state transport department is happy that the number fetish is adding to its coffers.
"The fee now is Rs 50000 for these four numbers; ten years back it was only Rs 5000. Even if it's made 50,000 people don't mind paying for these numbers," said T Ramesh, Joint Commissioner (Transport).
Mohammed Attar Khan believes his lucky number is 7. And says a love affair with numbers, even though an expensive proposition, runs in his family.
"My elder brother's lucky number is 9. The other brother's is 8 and mine is 7. So I have come here to get a 7 number," he said.
Sentimental reasons trigger bias against numbers as well. Registration numbers AP 12 and AP 13 numbers, for example, have had no takers for fancy numbers for more than a year now.