Fuel Colour Sticker on Your Windscreen — MoRTH Hexagonal Sticker Mandate in India

The colour-coded fuel sticker is rooted in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 (as amended) and the MoRTH notification on HSRP dated 4 December 2018. The 2018 Supreme Court order on HSRP compliance directed every state to enforce HSRP plates and the accompanying fuel sticker for vehicles sold from April 2019 onwards, with retrofit compliance for older vehicles as states notify.

The sticker is issued by authorised manufacturers under contract with each state transport department. Rosmerta, Utsav Industries, Real Mazon, Link Utsav and a handful of others are the main authorised suppliers. A sticker bought from a roadside shop or a random decal vendor is not legally valid — only stickers issued via bookmyhsrp.com or the state-authorised portal meet the specification.

The embedded data on a valid sticker includes: vehicle registration number, laser-etched unique code, fuel type (encoded in the colour), engine number (partial), chassis number (partial), and the name of the registering authority / RTO. The unique code ties the sticker to the VAHAN database record of the vehicle, making it impossible to swap between cars.

Blue hexagonal sticker is for petrol and CNG-on-petrol vehicles. The vast majority of passenger cars registered in India fall into this bucket — a petrol Maruti Swift, a petrol Hyundai i20, a factory-CNG Maruti WagonR CNG all carry a blue sticker. Petrol hybrids (strong hybrids like the Toyota Innova Hycross, Maruti Grand Vitara) carry blue sticker because the base fuel is petrol.

Orange hexagonal sticker is for diesel vehicles. A diesel Mahindra XUV700, diesel Hyundai Creta, diesel Tata Harrier — all carry the orange sticker. Diesel-hybrids (rare in India) also carry orange.

Grey hexagonal sticker is for everything else. This includes pure electric vehicles (Tata Nexon EV, Mahindra XUV400, MG Comet, Tata Tiago EV), LPG-only vehicles (rare), hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (Toyota Mirai, where available), and aftermarket-retrofit CNG on diesel vehicles that formally shift fuel class.

Edge case — retrofit CNG. If you have installed an aftermarket CNG kit on a petrol car and formally updated the VAHAN record to dual-fuel, the sticker may need to be re-issued to reflect the change. Check with your RTO; most continue to accept blue since petrol remains a supported fuel.

Edge case — mild hybrids. Mild hybrids (Maruti SHVS, for example) continue to carry the colour of their base fuel — so petrol-based mild hybrid carries blue, and diesel mild hybrid carries orange.

A compliant hexagonal sticker is not just a colour swatch. It is a printed data-rich label with tamper-evident features. Pull a valid sticker off and it will tear into fragments rather than lift cleanly — this is by design.

The printed fields on a standard MoRTH sticker are: the vehicle registration number (in large readable font), the laser-etched unique hologram code (traceable to VAHAN), the last 5-6 digits of the chassis number, the last 4 digits of the engine number, and the registering authority name or RTO code. Some state variants also include the fuel type spelled out in text, a QR code linking to the VAHAN record, and a small circular hologram.

Why so much data? The original MoRTH intent was anti-theft and anti-fraud. If a stolen car is rebadged with different plates, the sticker's embedded engine/chassis data and VAHAN link would not match — giving enforcement officers a quick visual mismatch check. The sticker is also used by fuel stations in some states to deny service if fuel type is wrong (e.g. diesel pump for a petrol sticker), though this enforcement is patchy.

Because the sticker carries engine and chassis digits, do not post a clear high-resolution photograph of it on public classifieds. Serial-number exposure is a potential fraud vector. When selling on VahanBazaar or any portal, photograph the sticker at an angle or crop so that the reg number is visible but the full engine/chassis is not.

The MoRTH specification places the sticker on the inside of the windscreen, at the bottom-left corner from the driver's perspective (bottom-right from outside). This placement is chosen so that the sticker is clearly visible to enforcement officers standing at the front-left of the vehicle (kerb side in India) without obstructing the driver's forward view.

The sticker is applied to the inside surface so that it cannot be peeled off from outside by a thief or fraud. This also means it cannot be transferred to another vehicle. Correct fitment requires a clean, dry windscreen and precise alignment within a 3-5 cm corner zone.

Common placement mistakes in India. First, sticker placed on the outside of the glass — vulnerable to weather, peel-off, and not compliant. Second, sticker placed at the top-centre or rear-view mirror area — obscures driver view and is not compliant. Third, sticker placed on a tinted aftermarket film rather than directly on the glass — tamper-prone and not compliant. Fourth, two overlapping stickers because the old one was never removed before the new one was applied — leads to unreadable data.

Enforcement of the fuel colour sticker varies significantly across Indian states, but the direction of travel is uniform — every state is heading towards mandatory enforcement. As of early 2026, the rollout looks roughly like this.

Strict enforcement means police or traffic wardens check for the sticker during routine stops and can issue a challan on the spot. Moderate enforcement means checks happen at touchpoints — renewals, inspections, inter-state movement, pollution checks. Gradual and early-stage means checks are rare but will increase as state notifications mature.

For any inter-state travel — a road trip from Mumbai to Delhi, Bengaluru to Chennai, Kolkata to Guwahati — the most conservative rule applies. If you pass through a strict-enforcement state, you can be challaned even if your home state does not enforce. A Delhi-NCR or UP traffic stop will check sticker compliance regardless of where the car is registered.

For used-car buyers, verifying the sticker is part of the standard pre-purchase check. A car listed with HSRP plate but without the fuel sticker is a partial compliance and may delay the RC transfer at the buyer's RTO. Read more on full pre-purchase checks in our pre-purchase inspection guide.

bookmyhsrp.com is the authorised MoRTH portal for ordering HSRP plates and the fuel colour sticker, run through authorised manufacturers. The ordering process is the same for a fresh HSRP purchase, a replacement sticker alone, or a replacement plate+sticker set.

Step 1. Open bookmyhsrp.com and select your state. Different states route to different authorised manufacturers — the portal will auto-pick based on your registration state.

Step 2. Enter vehicle registration number, chassis number (last 5 digits) and engine number (last 4 digits). These three fields cross-check against VAHAN to prevent fraud orders on someone else's vehicle.

Step 3. Select the service: HSRP plates + sticker, sticker only, or plates only. If your car has HSRP plates already and only needs the sticker, pick sticker only — this is cheaper and faster.

Step 4. Upload or confirm details — owner name, address, contact mobile. The portal validates against the RC record.

Step 5. Choose a fitment slot. Home fitment (where available — mostly Delhi-NCR and Tier 1 cities) charges a small extra fee and a technician comes to your address. Dealer fitment means you drive to the authorised centre at the agreed slot.

Step 6. Pay online via UPI / net banking / card. Keep the payment receipt and the appointment SMS.

Step 7. On fitment day, carry the RC, your government ID (Aadhaar or driving licence), the appointment SMS and the vehicle itself. The technician removes any old sticker, cleans the corner, applies the new sticker and hands over a fitment certificate.

The total outlay to get your vehicle sticker-compliant in 2026 is small — typically in the 100 to 1500 rupee band depending on what you need.

Payment is online and fee is non-refundable once fitment is booked. If you miss your fitment slot, most authorised centres allow one free reschedule within 15 days; beyond that, a fresh booking is required.

Beware of touts outside the RTO offering sticker fitment in cash. Unless they are an authorised dealer with visible MoRTH / state accreditation, the sticker is unlikely to be genuine. A non-genuine sticker costs the same or more than the authorised one and can itself become a compliance issue. Always order via bookmyhsrp.com or directly at an authorised dealer shown on the portal.

Enforcement of sticker non-compliance in India happens under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and state-specific notifications. The primary sections invoked are Section 177 (general offence — first 500, repeat 1500 rupees) and Section 192 / 192A (using a vehicle without valid registration markings — up to 10,000 rupees for a first offence).

In practice, for a missing or damaged fuel sticker alone, traffic police most often challan at the Section 177 level — 500 rupees first time, 1500 rupees repeat. For a compound offence (HSRP plates also missing, or entirely unregistered marks), challans escalate to Section 192 and can reach 5000 to 10,000 rupees. The exact amount is state-decided and varies.

Beyond the direct challan, an absent sticker can trigger downstream issues. RTO officers may defer your next fitness certificate renewal until the sticker is fitted. Some insurance companies cite HSRP and sticker compliance as a prerequisite for claim processing — though this is not uniform, a missing sticker has been used by insurers to delay or reduce settlements after total-loss claims.

There is also a reputational cost on resale. A buyer inspecting a used car at VahanBazaar will note the missing sticker as a non-compliance and factor in the time to order one before RC transfer. Compliance is not just a police matter, it is part of the vehicle's saleability profile.

Commercial vehicles (yellow-board taxis, goods carriers, buses) follow the same colour-by-fuel logic — a diesel taxi gets an orange sticker, a CNG taxi gets a blue sticker, an EV fleet bus gets a grey sticker. However, commercial vehicles have additional permit stickers that also go on the windscreen (permit number, tourist permit, national permit) and the fuel sticker must not overlap with those.

Older cars registered before April 2019 — the retrofit HSRP + sticker programme has been rolled out state by state since 2019 and most states completed the phased retrofit by 2022-2023. If your car is pre-2019 and still has painted plates with no sticker, you are almost certainly out of compliance; book a bookmyhsrp.com retrofit immediately.

Fleet owners (Ola, Uber partners, self-drive rentals, corporate fleets) must ensure sticker compliance on every vehicle before enrolment on aggregator platforms. Many aggregators now perform HSRP and sticker checks as part of vehicle on-boarding. A non-compliant car cannot be listed for driver-partners. For details on running a cab business vehicle, see our guide to Ola-Uber driver vehicle maintenance.

Cross-border vehicles (J&K, NE region, Bhutan / Nepal border cars) — follow the rules of the state where the vehicle is registered for plates and sticker. Enforcement in border areas can be strict during security operations, so keep your fitment certificate in the car glovebox.

If you are buying a used car in India, the sticker is a quick compliance read-out. Stand in front of the car, look at the bottom-left of the windscreen from the driver's side. You should see a small hexagonal blue, orange or grey sticker with the registration number matching the plates.

Checks to make. First, is the sticker colour correct for the fuel type declared in the RC? A petrol car with an orange sticker is a red flag — the sticker may have been fitted from a different car or the fuel type may have been changed without proper VAHAN update. Second, does the registration number on the sticker exactly match the HSRP plate and the RC? Mismatches imply the sticker was moved or forged. Third, is the sticker clean, intact, un-tampered? Peeling or scraped stickers must be re-ordered at buyer cost if the seller does not replace before sale.

Use the VAHAN portal to cross-check the sticker data against the VAHAN record before you pay. See our complete VAHAN portal guide for a step-by-step on running a registration and fuel-type lookup.

Negotiation. If the sticker is missing or damaged, factor in 150 to 250 rupees for a replacement order and a half-day for fitment — small money, but ask for a matching discount and put in writing that the seller will hand over the HSRP and sticker fitment certificates at delivery.