29th August 2025, Kathmandu
Even as Nepal’s major highways and border routes reel under floods, landslides, and chronic neglect, the government has remained fixated on enforcing an embossed number plate system for vehicles, a move that continues to draw criticism from consumers, transport operators, and rights groups.
Embossed Number Plate Nepal
The ambitious project, designed to modernize vehicle registration with high-security aluminum plates embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips, is being widely condemned as costly, inconvenient, and fundamentally ineffective.
The controversy has deepened in recent weeks. Following escalating protests from various stakeholders, the Department of Transport on Tuesday issued a statement promising some flexibility for vehicle owners.
However, the government has so far refused to revise pricing or its contentious English-only language policy, prompting continued backlash and formal calls for resistance from transport entrepreneurs.
A Decade-Long Digital Dream Deferred
The embossed number plate plan, first introduced nearly a decade ago under the government’s “Digital Nepal” initiative, was meant to be a leap forward in vehicle identification.
The RFID technology was envisioned to streamline vehicle tracking, reduce theft, and automate tax collection. Yet, a series of legal hurdles, poor infrastructure, and rising costs have stalled the rollout and fueled widespread skepticism over the government’s priorities.
A significant point of contention has been the language used on the plates. In 2017, opponents challenged the scheme in the Supreme Court, arguing that the plates violated the constitution by being printed only in English.
Although the court upheld the use of English as valid two years later, a 2023 Cabinet decision allowed for both Nepali and English scripts. Despite this, critics accuse the government of ignoring its own decision by insisting on English-only plates. Consumer groups and rights forums argue that this insistence on a foreign script undermines national identity.
Infrastructure Failure and Fragile Plates
The technical foundation of the system is equally shaky. The embossed number plate system depends on RFID gates to scan vehicles and manage data. But nearly a decade after the project’s inception, only a handful of such gates exist, with most being non-operational.
Balaju and Thankot in the Kathmandu Valley have a few, and others are planned for major entry points like Pokhara and Butwal, but the lack of a functional, nationwide network renders the RFID chips useless.
“This is a system launched without infrastructure,” said Saroj Sitaula, Senior Vice-President of the National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs. “Even where gates exist, they don’t function, and renewals are still processed using old plates. The entire project is a white elephant.”
Vehicle owners also complain about the fragility of the plates themselves. Made of 90–95% aluminum, they are reportedly less durable than the old ones and are easily damaged in Nepal’s rough traffic conditions.
This raises concerns about long-term maintenance costs for vehicle owners who must replace the easily-damaged plates.
High Costs and Bureaucratic Hurdles
The financial burden on consumers is another major reason for the backlash. The government has fixed installation fees at Rs 2,500 for motorcycles, Rs 2,900 for three-wheelers, Rs 3,200 for cars, and Rs 3,600 for heavy vehicles.
Previously, vehicle number plates cost just NPR 100–300. This steep increase of over ten times the original cost is seen by many as another reason the scheme is doomed to fail.
The process to acquire the new plates is also complicated and time-consuming. Vehicle owners are required to submit online applications, provide biometric verification, and present multiple documents and photographs before approval.
For transport operators, particularly during the busy festival season, this has proven to be a logistical nightmare, disrupting business and causing unnecessary delays.
A System that Fails to Address Real Needs
In 2016, the government signed a $33.85 million contract with Decatur Tiger IT, a US-Bangladesh joint venture, to deliver and install 2.5 million plates by 2021.
Nearly a decade later, only a fraction of these have been distributed, highlighting the project’s monumental failure to meet its own targets.
On Monday, the National Federation of Transport Entrepreneurs formally called for resistance to the mandatory embossed number plate rollout.
The following day, the Transport Department’s circular softened enforcement, but public transport operators again denounced the government’s “one-sided decision.”
For many, the dispute reflects a deeper frustration: while Nepal’s highways remain muddy in monsoon and dusty in winter, the government appears more determined to push a controversial and non-functional plate system than to repair the very roads those plates will travel on.
As Chandra Saud, General Secretary of the Consumer Rights Protection Forum, aptly put it, “The embossed number plate project has already failed before implementation. Unless costs are reduced and both Nepali and English are allowed, this system cannot succeed.”
For more: Embossed Number Plate Nepal