The Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation (Sidco) has made it to the second round of a tender for supplying high security registration plates to the Motor Vehicles Department for fitment on vehicles.

Sidco has thus been able to storm what has been traditionally considered a bastion of nimble-footed players from the private sector, sources in the public sector company said.

It has had to face tough competition from 17 other private players who managed to get ‘type approval certificates' from the competent authority to qualify for the bidding in the first place.

The field is now left to Sidco and a player from the private sector to fight it out in the next rounds to come up with matching technical and financial bids, the sources said.

In the first phase, the new-generation registration plates are being introduced in the three districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.

The Motor Vehicles (New High Security Registration Plates) Order issued in 2001 mandates that the registration mark be displayed not just at the front and the rear of the vehicles but on the windshield as well.

Made of aluminium, the registration plates are required to conform to specifications. The registration mark must be embossed and hot-stamped in English and Arabic numerals.

The plate will come with a guarantee of a minimum five years. Each plate will have a chromium-based hologram in blue colour at the left corner.

This is expected to rule out chances of forgery and counterfeiting, sources said.

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