Dubai

The vehicle number plate P7 was sold for record Dh55M at 'Most Noble Numbers' auction in Dubai.

Starting at a bid of Dh15 million in the action on Saturday night, the bids rose within seconds to over Dh30 million. The bid stagnated for several minutes at Dh35 million which was bid by Pavel Valeryevich Durov, the French-Emirati businessman, the founder and owner of the app Telegram.

The price rose quickly until it reached the amount of Dh55 million (INR1,226,144,700) by bid panel seven who wished to remain anonymous. The crowd cheered and applauded as each bid was placed.

Many other VIP number plates and phone number auctioned on same time and auction process raised nearly Dh100 million ($27 million) for a Ramzan food appeal. In total, Dh97,920,000 ($26662313) was raised from the sale of car plates and exclusive mobile phone numbers at the Four Seasons hotel in Jumeirah.

The event was organised by Emirates Auction, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, Etisalat and Du.

'P7' topped the list after a bidding war between several people who wanted to break the existing record set in 2008, when a businessman paid Dh52.2 million for Abu Dhabi's number 1 plate.

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All proceeds from the most noble numbers auction will go to the One Billion Meals campaign, which was launched to boost efforts to combat global hunger. The One Billion Meals Endowment was launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, in line with the generous spirit of Ramzan.