Indian Driving Test & Driving License

edwardseco

Yep, I had an address and as Cathode says pretty smooth..

Nick-H

Typical RTO to tell about stuff a foreigner would or could never get! ie Ration card, voters card!

Proof of legal stay: Residents' Permit. this is the most vital thing: it proves you have the residency qualification for the licence. Passport and visa.

Proof of address: Telephone or utility bill, lease.

I don't think I had to give proof of address.

A driving school will sort out the whole thing for you for a small fee. They will even give you lessons to get you over the initial nervousness of driving on Indian roads --- I needed that!

They will make sure you pass your test. Sitting in the car for the test may or may not happen .

I never took any written test, and drove for about three minutes. My driving school guy looked after all his candidates at the RTO, guiding us through form filling and which table, window or office to visit next.

For a stranger, yes, I think this is true.

If you are resident here, I think you will find driving yourself to be much more relaxing. Most pro drivers really push it aggressively, and you will have many close-eyes-and-pray moments. When you drive your own car you can set your own pace.

But... If I was working here, with a commute of anything over half an hour, I'd want a driver. Otherwise I'd feel I'd done a day's work before even getting there!

brownboy66

yep...this is the same for us, plus one extra requirement. We have to have a medical- and no, we aren't retired qrandparents. Presumably to prove that we are either a)fit enough not to die at the wheel of the car through shock at the chaos on the roads (and if we did kick the bucket while the car was moving - who could tell the difference), or b) prove we are slightly unhinged enough to want to drive ourselves in the first place. Oh - and we don't have to take a driving test. Simply provide the proof of residency, the med certificate, a copy of our existing license from home - and they will give us one.

Completely agree with nick re the comment about when to have a driver and when not. For short hops - I want to drive myself, but for anything longer a driver is great. I been driving here for the past few weeks ever since we got our car (just to get use to it before getting my license) - and I have to say the traffic is ok. The chaos seems to effect everyone equally so you all go at the same pace. Its when you have different speeds together on the same road that you get problems (i.e the cow being overtaken by the rickshaw, being passed by a bus, with a camry or carolla zooming past). You know its going to end in tears...

Nick-H

Indian driving test:

You are shown an object. If you recognise it as a car, you pass.

If you fail to recognise it, you are told it is a car and then passed.

You are shown another object, which you fail to recognise. It is a pedestrian. You are told that question didn't matter anyway, and pass.

Bike test?

You are asked how many wheels does a bike have? If you answer correctly you may, if the examiner is in a bad mood, fail for being too inteligent to ride a bike.

You are asked what is the maximum number of persons a bike may legally carry. You shrug you shoulders... Correct! There is no maximum: you pass.

Yogesh Sarkar

Or you can pay few hundred bucks and skip the test!

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vishal datta

Legally, it is quite a cumbersome process for a foregin national to get an Indian driving license. You need to be a resident of India for at least 05years before you get a license as per the new laws of the Transport Authority of India.

Illegally, if you are coming to India for a vaction for few months, you can get hold of any tout sitting outside the licensing authority office, tell him your requirements, pay him a certain amount and he shall do the needful for you.You can sit and have coffee whereas he clears the exams, interviews and documents for you.

Theres nothing impossible in India. All depends on how much you can pay. Even if you get caught on the road after obtaining a driving license, just pay Rupees 50/-only(not more than this)to the cop and he not even will let you loose but would also guide you to avoid the routes where you can get caught.

Happy Driving.

Cheers

Vish

brownboy66

invidious

I got my learner's permit at the age of 16 paying Rs. 800 to get it, while the legal age is 18. I did give the driving test - which involved driving a block. However, after the recent crash in Bandra where the drunken kid ran over 3-4 people and they found he has a bribed license issued when he was underage - they've become fairly strict.

JamesW

Yes, as long as you are resident in India. I got mine on the basis of holding a UK licence. I had only been resident for about nine months, and didn't have to do any test written or practical. As a bonus, my Indian licence allowed me to drive motorbikes even though I had not passed a bike test back in the UK.

Nick-H

How new is this?

I passed my Indian driving licence in Nov 2006, and was given a licence valid until April 2007, when my Resident's Permit expired. At that point I renewed the licence and was given a standard five-year licence, as I then had a five year RP.

I also have a car registered in my name.

GauhatiBoy

From my memory you need not be concerned so much with legalitities as with

1) does the horn work

2) if you have not driven in India before, you are in for a real experience. If you know what you're in for then ok

3) unwritten law: larger vehicles may push smaller vehicles off the road if they (smaller vehicles) do not yield the whole road

JamesW

What standard is that? My Indian licence is valid until my 50th birthday in 2023! Still not as generous as the UK though - they'll let me keep on driving for another 20 years without further checks.

Nick-H

Standard for foreigners? I don't know!

I'm obviously wrong on this one. Have to admit I'd expect the RTO to be a vastly busier place than it is if everyone had to renew every five years

Just thought.... standard for people over the age of fifty? I am.

vireya

When in India last year I was amused to read in a newspaper one of those articles which are probably published everywhere, where the journalist talks about wacky foreign habits. This article was about how in some countries in the world, people have to actually prove they can drive to get a drivers' licence! Wow, what an idea! After decribing the tests various countries impose on their citizens, the journalist ended the article with some comments about how such tests should perhaps be considered in India.

After reading this article, I understood a bit more of what I had been experiencing on the road in India.

Nick-H

I saw people passing their bike tests who could barely balance on the thing . They had to drive about fifty yards in a straight line, stop and come back again.

Yes. It explains a lot about what happens on the roads.

Consider that the test for truck and bus drivers is probably not much better (going by how they drive) and we move from surreal senselessness to tragedy-in-the-making --- they kill a lot of people .