Pune Vehicles to Get ‘MH-61’ Registration Numbers as ‘MH-12’ Likely to End in Two Days
Pune,22nd August 2026: The Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) is set to introduce a new registration series, ‘MH-61’, as the existing ‘MH-12’ series is expected to be exhausted within the next two days.
The decision has been taken to ensure that registration of new vehicles does not come to a standstill once the existing series ends. The new series will be allotted to vehicles registered in Pune by the RTO.
The Union minister of state for civil aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, had earlier made efforts to retain the ‘MH-12’ series. However, technical difficulties emerged in continuing the existing series, following which the proposal to introduce ‘MH-61’ was put forward.
The Pune RTO had initially proposed extending the MH-12 series by introducing a three-letter alphabetical format, such as ‘MH-12-AAA’. The proposal was sent to the Union government for approval. However, officials subsequently found that there could be technical difficulties in implementing the new format.
Another option of introducing an ‘MH-12-1A’ type of registration series was also considered. However, since the available options could not be implemented immediately and the MH-12 series is nearing exhaustion, the RTO decided to introduce a separate MH-61 series.
The decision is expected to prevent any disruption in vehicle registrations in Pune. The RTO had also been considering other alternatives, including a three-letter format, as the existing two-letter combinations were nearing their limit.
According to vehicle registration data, Pune had more than 44.71 lakh registered vehicles as of July 2026, with the number continuing to rise.
The introduction of the new MH-61 series is therefore expected to provide the RTO with additional registration numbers and address the immediate shortage.
