Driving Licence — New, Renewal and Duplicate (Sarathi)

What is Sarathi and what does it do?

Sarathi is the national driving licence system of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, built with the National Informatics Centre and reached at sarathi.parivahan.gov.in through the Parivahan Sewa portal. Sarathi is to driving licences what Vahan is to vehicle registration: it holds the national licence register, accepts applications, books test slots, collects fees and prints the licence.

Two structural points frame everything below:

• The online process is unified nationwide. Every state and union territory runs the same Sarathi software, the same forms and the same application flow. What differs between states is the fee schedule on top of the central fees, the RTO's slot availability, and whether a particular service has been enabled locally.
• Physical steps route through your local RTO. The driving test, the biometric capture and, where required, original document verification happen at the Regional Transport Office with jurisdiction over your address. No portal can substitute for the test of competence to drive.

Services available on Sarathi, per the portal's own service menu:

• Learner licence: new application, renewal of an expired learner licence, mock tests and tutorials, and learner licence extract printing.
• Driving licence, new permanent licence, renewal, duplicate, International Driving Permit (IDP), additional endorsement of a vehicle class, DL extract and test sheet printing.
• Conductor licence, new and temporary conductor licences, printing and extracts.
• Driving school licence, new school applications, learner enrolment and refresher course enrolment.
• Administrative services, appointment and slot booking, document and photograph upload, fee payment, application status tracking, change of address, mobile number update and grievance filing.

Who is eligible for a driving licence?

You can apply if:

• You are 18 years or older for a motor vehicle licence.
• You are 16 years or older for a motorcycle not exceeding 50cc, with the consent of a parent or guardian.
• You are 20 years or older for an e-rickshaw or e-cart licence, per the Delhi Transport Department's criteria.
• You hold a valid learner licence issued at least 30 days ago, when applying for a permanent licence.
• For a transport vehicle licence, you meet the additional conditions: a pass in Class 8, and possession of a valid light motor vehicle licence held for at least one year, as specified by the Delhi Transport Department.
• You are medically fit to drive, declared in Form 1 and, where required, certified by a registered medical practitioner in Form 1A.

You cannot apply, or the application will fail, if:

• You are below the minimum age for the class of vehicle. There is no discretion here.
• Your learner licence has expired, having passed six months from issue, or you are applying within 30 days of it being issued.
• You cannot produce proof of address within the RTO's jurisdiction. Licences are issued by the RTO covering your ordinary place of residence.
• You fail the colour blindness check or the medical requirement for the class applied for.
• You are seeking a transport licence without the Class 8 pass or without the one year of LMV licence experience where the state requires it.
• You fail the test of competence to drive. A retest is permitted on payment of the retest fee.

What documents are required for a driving licence?

How to apply for a driving licence online through Sarathi

1. Open sarathi.parivahan.gov.in and select your state. Verify the address bar — a large number of look-alike private "sarathi parivahan" sites exist and none of them is the government portal.
2. Choose Apply for Learner Licence and fill Form 1 with your personal details, address and the class or classes of vehicle you want to drive.
3. Upload the scanned documents and photograph: age proof, address proof and the physical fitness declaration, plus Form 1A where required.
4. Pay the fee online and save the receipt. The fee panel itemises the learner licence fee and the learner test fee.
5. Book a slot for the learner licence test, or take the computer-based test online where your state permits it. The test covers road signs and traffic rules; Delhi requires 60 per cent correct answers and precedes it with a colour blindness check. E-rickshaw applicants take an oral test.
6. Collect the learner licence, which Delhi's Transport Department issues on the same day once documents are verified and the test is passed. It is valid for six months.
7. Practise for at least 30 days, then return to Sarathi and choose Apply for Driving Licence. File Form 4, attach the learner licence, and pay the licence and test-of-competence fees.
8. Book the driving test slot at your RTO, then attend on the appointed date with the vehicle of the class applied for and all originals.
9. Give biometrics and sit the test of competence. On passing, the permanent licence is issued and the smart card is printed or dispatched.
10. Track the application with the application status option on Sarathi and download the DL extract once issued.

How to apply for renewal, a duplicate or an IDP

1. Open sarathi.parivahan.gov.in, select your state, and open the Driving Licence menu.
2. Choose Services on Driving Licence. The combined entry point for renewal, duplicate, AEDL and other services.
3. Enter your driving licence number and date of birth to pull up your record, and select the service you need:

• Renewal: apply before or after expiry; a licence renewed long after expiry may require a fresh test of competence.
• Duplicate, for a lost, stolen, damaged or illegible licence. Lodge a police report first if it was stolen, and keep the copy.
• International Driving Permit; issued against a valid Indian licence for driving abroad, for a limited validity.
• Additional endorsement (AEDL); to add a new class of vehicle, which requires passing that class's test.
• Change of address or mobile number update.

4. Upload the supporting documents and pay the fee online, then print the fee slip.
5. Visit the RTO on the scheduled date with the originals and the fee slip where the service requires verification. Several states now issue a duplicate without an RTO visit unless verification is flagged.

What does a driving licence cost?

Fees have two layers, and people quoting a single number are usually quoting only one of them.

Central fees are prescribed under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 and are of the order of:

• Rs 150 for a learner licence
• Rs 50 for the learner licence test, and the same for a retest
• Rs 300 for the test of competence to drive, for each class of vehicle
• Rs 200 for the issue of a driving licence

State charges are added on top and are the reason your bill differs from a friend's in another state. The Delhi Transport Department, for example, lists a permanent driving licence at Rs 400, comprising Rs 200 for the licence and Rs 200 for the smart card, and prices its learner licence from Rs 500 for a single vehicle category up to Rs 1,400 for three categories, with a Rs 50 retest charge.

The authoritative figure is always the fee panel shown on Sarathi before you pay, because it applies your state's schedule to the exact classes you have selected.

On agents and driving schools. Applying on sarathi.parivahan.gov.in is a direct government process and free of any charge beyond these statutory fees. Agents who promise a licence "without the test", or who charge a facilitation amount to file a form you can file yourself, are selling something either worthless or illegal, and a licence obtained without the test of competence is liable to be cancelled. A driving school's fee is different and legitimate: it buys driving lessons, and for a transport licence the school's certificate in Forms 5, 14 and 15 is itself a required document. Pay a school for teaching, not for influence.

How to check driving licence application status

1. Open sarathi.parivahan.gov.in and select your state.
2. Use the Application Status option with your application number, or the DL extract / licence search options with your licence number and date of birth.
3. Use the appointment or slot booking section to confirm or reschedule a test date.
4. Carry the digital licence in the mParivahan app, which holds a valid digital copy recognised for on-road checks.

Timelines vary by RTO and by how quickly slots open. The learner licence is issued the same day in Delhi once documents pass and the test is cleared. The permanent licence follows the driving test, so the real waiting time is the gap before your test slot, not the processing itself.

Why driving licence applications fail, and how to fix them

• Applied too early or too late after the learner licence. The window is after 30 days and within six months. Outside it, the learner licence has to be redone.
• Failed the learner test. Retake it after paying the retest fee; the mock tests and tutorials on Sarathi cover the same syllabus.
• Failed the driving test. Practise and rebook. Common causes are poor reversing and parking control, not observing signals, and clutch control on an incline.
• Address proof outside the RTO's jurisdiction. Apply at the RTO covering where you actually live.
• Name or date of birth mismatch between the age proof, the address proof and the application. Correct the underlying document first.
• Missing Form 1A where a medical certificate was required for your age or vehicle class.
• Missing Class 8 certificate or the one-year LMV requirement for a transport licence.
• Poor quality uploads that the RTO cannot read, which sends the application back for re-upload rather than rejecting it outright.

Help and grievance redressal

• Official portals: parivahan.gov.in and sarathi.parivahan.gov.in, which carry the current helpdesk contacts and the grievance filing option
• Your local RTO, which is the correct forum for test disputes, slot problems, verification issues and undelivered smart cards
• Grievance option inside Sarathi, for complaints an RTO has not resolved
• mParivahan app for the digital licence and for checking licence details

Keep your application number, fee receipt and learner licence number to hand before contacting any helpdesk, these are the first three things you will be asked for. And treat any offer to arrange a licence without a test as a warning sign, not a shortcut: it puts an untested driver on the road and leaves the holder with a licence that can be cancelled.

Common reasons for rejection

The page already covers test failures and the 30-day to six-month renewal window. Beyond those, applications and service requests on Sarathi get sent back or rejected for reasons that show up mainly on renewal, duplicate, and endorsement requests rather than on the first learner application.

• Existing disqualification or suspension on record. If your licence is under suspension or you are disqualified from holding one following a traffic offence or court order, Sarathi will not process a renewal, duplicate, or endorsement until the disqualification period is cleared. Check your licence status on the portal before filing; the fix is to wait out the suspension period or resolve the court matter first, not to reapply.
• Wrong licence number or date of birth entered for renewal or duplicate. Sarathi pulls your existing record using the licence number and date of birth exactly as they appear in the RTO's database. A typo, or a date of birth that does not match what was recorded at first issue, returns no record found rather than a clear error. Cross-check the number against the physical card or a DL extract before submitting.
• No police report attached for a lost or stolen licence. A duplicate request for a stolen licence filed without the police complaint copy is returned for want of documentation. File the report first, then attach the copy when applying; a damaged or illegible licence does not need this step, only a lost or stolen one.
• Address proof that has since expired or no longer matches your declared address. A renewal or address-change request checked against an address proof that is outdated, or that shows an address different from what you declared, gets flagged for re-verification rather than approved outright. Update the address proof before filing rather than after the RTO raises the query.
• Parent or guardian consent missing or improperly signed for an applicant aged 16 to 18. The 50cc motorcycle licence for a minor needs the guardian's consent recorded on the form; an unsigned or incompletely filled consent section is one of the more common reasons a minor's application stalls at document verification.
• A second application filed while an earlier one is still pending. Submitting a fresh learner or duplicate request because the first seems slow, without checking application status first, can create a duplicate record that the RTO has to manually reconcile, delaying both. Always check status on Sarathi before refiling.
• Photograph or signature that does not match the record used for eSign or Aadhaar authentication. Where the portal cross-verifies your uploaded photograph or signature against Aadhaar-linked records for identity confirmation, a mismatch (a very old photograph, or a signature that has changed) can cause the verification step to fail. Use a current photograph and your usual signature.
• Fee paid but not reconciled before the application was closed. Occasionally a payment goes through on the bank's side but the Sarathi session times out before the receipt is generated, leaving the application marked as fee-pending. Keep the payment reference and raise it with the RTO or through the grievance option rather than paying again immediately.