New ride-hailing apps racing Uber, Ola for mobility business
ride-hailing apps have mushroomed in India in segments such as cabs, autorickshaw and bike taxis. The emergence of these apps and tackling the competition have become a matter of routine management discussions within incumbent operators Uber and Ola, said people in the know.
New apps such as InDrive, Namma Yatri, Yaary, BluSmart and Rapido (in the cabs segment) are primarily looking to address gaps left by the larger players in terms of customer service and driver-partner satisfaction, these people said. Meanwhile, Uber and Ola have also moved to solve some of those service problems, like driver cancellations and supply retention.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Digital TransformationVisitMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisit“Larger players are cognisant of the service quality issues that come inherently with a marketplace model…the choice to be asset-light presents itself with the lack of full control over the supply. But that’s the choice firms like Uber and Ola have made…the newer apps may be looking to plug some of those issues, but the question is whether they can scale,” a top executive at one of the large cab aggregators told ET.
California-based InDrive, which operates in more than 40 countries, launched last year in India as a zero-commission offering for drivers. But it has for a few months now been charging a commission from drivers.
Bengaluru-based bike taxi platform Rapido earlier this month announced its entry into cab services taking on Uber and Ola directly in their mainstay category. Rapido also said it would charge zero commission to a limited set of
