Brands
Big Boy Toyz sells VIP number plate for Rs 2.08 crore in one of India’s costliest deals
NEW DELHI: Big Boy Toyz has fired an opening salvo in India’s luxury collectibles market with a headline-grabbing sale. The VIP number plate DDC 0001 was auctioned for Rs 2.08 crore on the newly launched Auction House by Big Boy Toyz, marking one of the most expensive number plate transactions in the country and signalling growing confidence in the platform.
The auction coincided with the launch of Auction House by Big Boy Toyz, the company’s foray into building what it describes as India’s first premium destination for high-value collectors. The platform brings together luxury cars, celebrity-owned vehicles, elite number plates, premium watches and exclusive mobile numbers under a single, verified ecosystem.
Built around transparency, verification and ease of transaction, the auction house aims to introduce global auction-house standards to India’s fast-growing luxury market. The winning bidder for DDC 0001, Kiran Kolipakula from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, underscored another shift: high-value luxury buying is no longer confined to metro cities.
The transaction highlighted both the pan-India reach of the platform and rising demand for collectible assets that combine rarity, status and long-term value.
“For nearly two decades, Big Boy Toyz has been built on one simple promise: trust. People have trusted us with the most valuable cars in the country,” said Jatin Ahuja, founder and managing director of Big Boy Toyz. “Over the years, we’ve built deep relationships with India’s most elite collectors and industry leaders, consistently operating within the inner circle of luxury. That credibility is what naturally led to the Auction House. When you’re dealing with assets of this value, transparency and verification matter more than anything else. The Rs 2.08 crore auction of DDC 0001 reinforced that collectors are ready for a platform they can believe in, no matter where they come from. Auction House by Big Boy Toyz is our way of extending that trust into a broader world of luxury collectibles, with global standards but a very Indian understanding of how people buy and sell.”
The platform is designed to serve both sides of the market. Sellers gain access to a curated, affluent buyer base, while buyers are offered end-to-end transaction support and the chance to own assets positioned as legacy pieces.
Current listings span celebrity cars and rare collectibles, including Dinesh Karthik’s Range Rover Sport SVR, Shilpa Shetty’s Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, Rohit Shetty’s Mercedes-Benz CLA 200D, a Rolex Daytona with Tiffany dial, collectible Hublot King Gold Skeleton Chronograph, rare mobile numbers 999999999X and 888888888X, and elite number plates such as CHE78 and HR59 0001.
With a long-term ambition to build an Indian equivalent of Sotheby’s or Christie’s, Big Boy Toyz plans to expand the auction house into new categories, including luxury handbags, rare art, collectibles and premium real estate.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Gurgaon, Big Boy Toyz is one of India’s leading luxury and pre-owned automobile dealers, with operations across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The company serves over 10,000 UHNI and HNI clients and attracts nearly 30 million monthly digital visitors.
From supercars to symbols of status, Big Boy Toyz is betting that trust, not just flash, will power India’s next luxury boom.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
