Crop your India driving licence photo (Sarathi/Parivahan).

If you're just here for the number, here it is up front. The accepted India driving licence photo size for both Learner's Licence (LL) and permanent Driving Licence (DL) applications on the Sarathi and Parivahan portals is 3.5x4.5cm, or 35x45mm. In inches, that works out to roughly 1.38 by 1.77 inch, a taller rectangle than the 2x2 inch square used for an Indian passport, OCI card, or PAN card photo, which is exactly why the driving licence photo size in inch comes up as its own search separate from the passport spec.

The background rule is stricter here too. Unlike a couple of this site's other India document pages, several sources specifically report that off-white, cream, or light grey backgrounds get a photo rejected on Sarathi, so don't reuse a passport photo that isn't pure white. This is sometimes called a "parivahan photo" by applicants, though the exact size isn't published on a reachable numeric spec page by Parivahan itself, so treat this figure as a strong, widely used convention rather than a legally guaranteed rule, and compare it against whatever the live Sarathi portal shows you at the moment you apply.

This spec is not independently confirmed against a live primary source. parivahan.gov.in refused a direct connection every time it was checked this session, so the figures above are cross-checked third-party consensus rather than confirmed government text. Double-check against the live Sarathi portal at application time.

Along with a correctly sized photo, Sarathi asks for a handful of standard documents before it lets you submit a Learner's or permanent licence application. Proof of age typically means a birth certificate, school leaving certificate, or PAN card. Proof of address usually comes from an Aadhaar card, voter ID, passport, utility bill, or rent agreement. If you're converting a Learner's Licence into a full Driving Licence, you'll also need your LL number and, in most states, a certificate from a driving school if you took formal lessons there.

Document requirements shift slightly from state to state, so it's worth checking your own RTO's page before you scan and upload anything, but the photo and signature specs stay consistent nationwide. Keep your scanned photo, signature, and ID documents each under the file size limit the upload step asks for, since an oversized file is one of the most common reasons an otherwise complete application gets stuck.

Indian driving licences are split into vehicle classes, and the abbreviations printed on the card trip up a lot of first-time applicants. LMV stands for Light Motor Vehicle, the category that covers private cars, jeeps, and light vans under 7,500 kg, so yes, an ordinary car counts as an LMV, and it's the class most people apply for first. MCWG means Motorcycle With Gear, for geared two-wheelers, while a plain gearless scooter usually falls under a separate ungeared class.

NT and TR are transport-related suffixes: NT generally marks a Non-Transport licence, meant for personal vehicles, while TR appears on a Transport licence for commercial vehicles used to carry goods or passengers for hire. AEDL stands for Additional Endorsement to Driving Licence, used when a new vehicle class gets added to an existing licence rather than issuing a fresh card. Altogether, India recognises several distinct licence classes covering two-wheelers, LMVs, and heavier transport or commercial vehicles, and most people end up holding just one or two of them depending on what they actually drive.

A driving licence in India is generally valid for 20 years, or until the holder turns 40 if issued earlier, and then it needs renewing. Parivahan lets you start that renewal online before heading to an RTO for the final formalities. Once issued, both an original and a renewed licence can be downloaded as a soft copy, or pulled straight into DigiLocker, and a licence stored in DigiLocker is treated as valid as the physical card for most checks, including by traffic police, since it comes directly from the same government database.

If your card is lost, stolen, or damaged, you can apply for a duplicate driving licence online through Parivahan rather than starting the whole licensing process again, though the exact fee and documents needed vary slightly by state. You can check your application status, whether it's a fresh application, a renewal, or a duplicate, using your application number on the Parivahan portal directly, and it's usually the fastest way to know if your card is ready to download or still under processing at your RTO.

An Indian driving licence alone generally isn't enough to legally drive in the US, UK, or most of Europe. Combined with an International Driving Permit (IDP), issued by RTOs back in India before you travel, most short-term visitors can drive legally in the USA and UK for a limited period, though individual states and car rental companies sometimes add their own rules on top. Dubai and the wider UAE are more lenient for Indian licence holders specifically, tourists can often drive on their Indian licence alone for a short visit, or convert it locally without a fresh test.

Thailand typically expects an IDP alongside your Indian licence for foreign visitors. The same logic runs in reverse too: a US licence doesn't let a foreign visitor drive in India on its own, an IDP or a local Indian licence is expected here as well. Rules do change, so it's worth a quick check with the relevant road transport authority close to your travel date rather than relying on older advice.

Neither the US nor Canada has an online driving-licence photo upload like India's. In the US, your state DMV photographs you in person when you apply or renew. In Canada, your provincial licensing body (like ServiceOntario) does the same. There's no single national spec to crop against, so this tool is scoped to India and, separately, the UK.