Kanwaljit Walia has two more vehicles with VIP numbers.

A Chandigarh-based businessman has splurged a whopping Rs 8.1 lakh on a VIP number for his scooter.

Kanwaljit Walia, who has a well-known catering business in the city, made the highest bid for the number CH01BC 0001. The vehicle is his newly bought Activa scooter worth Rs 50,000.

The VIP number '0001' is much sought after. In recent years, it has been sold for anything between Rs 70,000 and Rs 10 lakh. The record price was paid by a farmer-turned-realtor, NS Shergill, in 2010.

At the auction conducted by Chandigarh's Licensing Authority on saturday, Mr Walia spent another Rs 2.6 lakh, buying the number CH01BC 0011 for his son's new bike and the number CH01BC 0026 for his third SUV.

The other two SUVs of the family has fancy numbers too. But this is the first they have spent so much for a scooter.

Mr Walia says he has inherited his father's passion. "My father also had two VIP numbers...he was the founding president of the Chandigarh taxi union," he said.

The city's craze for fancy numbers is helping the licensing authority laugh all the way to the bank. This time they have earned Rs 77.71 lakh.

"In this region the rich have a passion for fancy numbers while we manage to generate decent revenue out of it," said Kashish Mittal of the Registration and Licensing Authority in Chandigarh.

Numbers 0001 to 9999 of the new CH01BC series were auctioned in two phases on Saturday and Sunday.

A record haul was made last year, with the authority raking in Rs 98.7 lakh in two days following the launch of the CH-01-AX series.