Cab-hailing service Ola is on the fast track on the back of a $500 million funding.
Automobile makers in India are embracing taxi-hailing apps such as Uber and Ola, hoping to ride on their expansion to sell more cars, a contrarian view to companies in Western markets that fear a drop in car sales due to them
The entry of SoftBank-backed Ola into the electric scooter (e-scooter) segment is set to power up the overall market and perhaps fast-track the adoption of battery-operated vehicles. But for manufacturers of internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered two-wheelers, such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS Motor, it will be a double whammy. Not only will they have to contend with the aggressive pricing of Ola's scooter and incur a loss at each unit of the e-scooter sold, the volumes of their regular (ICE) models, too, could feel the squeeze, observed analysts. Ola is expected to price its e-scooter in the range of Rs 85,000-1.1 lakh.
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Ola competes with Uber Technologies in India.
Ola has raised $400 million from investors led by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner's DST Global.
The strike is expected to be observed in key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune among other cities.
Ola accuses Uber of violating local laws, run business for profit.
Chinese bicycle sharing giant Ofo launches service in seven Indian cities.
This comes at a time when Ola is looking to replicate nationally the success of its auto-rickshaw offering in Chennai and Bengaluru.
Maruti Suzuki said there are many reasons for this downturn in the auto market such as liquidity crunch, increased prices of products due to regulatory issues, higher taxes and rise in insurance rates.
65% of respondents find surge pricing by aggregators burdensome.
New norms issued as per the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 have mandated a cap on surge price, preventing aggregators from charging more than 1.5 times of the base fare.
A group comprising top tech startups and unicorns has raised several "serious concerns" over a platform-based gig workers Bill proposed by the Karnataka government, saying it would hurt the ease of doing business. They told the state government the Bill in its current form would hamper operations and increase regulatory and compliance burden on the nascent gig and startup economy, according to sources.
The development comes amid Japan's SoftBank booking an investment loss of 39.28 billion yen (USD 350 million) on its investments in India, including those in Ola and e-commerce company Snapdeal.
The Bengaluru-based firm competes with US rival Uber whose lukewarm IPO last year has contributed to the lag in valuation trend among the unicorns across the Indian start-up ecosystem.
Growing the number of electric vehicles on Ola's platform is part of the terms SoftBank has put forth for the funding
In a first in the country, online taxi aggregator Ola has today announced that it has deployed boats in water logged and partially submerged areas in Chennai.
Once the user selects a service, they will be directed to the Uber or Ola app to request the ride with one tap.
Cab aggregator Ola is laying off 1,400 staff from rides, financial services and food business as revenues declined by 95 per cent in the last two months due to coronavirus pandemic, a note by CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said. In an email to employees, Aggarwal made it clear that the prognosis ahead for the business is "very unclear and uncertain" and the impact of this crisis is "definitely going to be long-drawn for us".
An industry source said the funding was part of an overall $500 million the company is planning to raise, which will value Ola at around $5 billion.
Uber and Ola continued to operate in New Delhi while their licence applications were pending approval.
Currently the average expected time of arrival for Ola vehicles is five minutes.
Ola wants to be India's answer to Grab, which is into everything, starting from cab service and logistics to bike taxis and food and grocery delivery.
About 1,000 such cabs have been registered on the company's platform so far
The new Ola app will allow fleet owners to track their cars in real-time, view the performance of their drivers, and even their daily earnings
While the cab aggregators offer incentives as they battle each other for more customers, drivers complain that their earnings have halved in the last six months. Alnoor Peermohamed reports.
With an existing consumer base of 400 million across airports, electricity and gas distribution businesses, the Adani group is revving up its retail play. It is planning to use the 2.4 billion consumer interactions a year with group companies to push various products and services. The group has already launched the 'Adani One' super app that will eventually sell products across the spectrum, top executives said.
US-based ride hailing firm accuses rival of making false bookings on its platform, drags it to Delhi High Court.
According to company executives, the situation might worsen in the coming days.
There are times when a customer books a cab and is charged for the ride, but the driver doesn't show up. It is one of the many hacks that cab drivers use.
Ola did not disclose financial details of the investment.
The development comes close on the heels of Uber planning to invest substantial part of $3.5 bn Saudi money in India.
I am happy I didn't knock anyone down, driving recklessly or trying to show off. However, in one instance of road rage (the consequence of arguing with a driver who disrespected my right to cross the road peacefully) I did find a man in a SUV taking his anger out on me by driving his vehicle over my feet, recalls Shyam G Menon.
This year's tally is the second best ever after 2022 when 16 firms raised Rs 40,311 crore, led by LIC's biggest-ever IPO.
The whole point about this is not who eventually wins or loses but how, in just a few years, technology has so changed our lives, says Subir Roy.
Around half the value of the mark-downs is due to the Japanese currency's appreciation against other currencies.
Do you think the government should interfere in the pricing policy of Ola and Uber? Tell us.
Uber started its business three years ago in India and is now operating in over 20 cities with thousands of cab drivers.
Both are focused on the overall transportation business, in which taxi services are only a part; the extended ambit includes autos, motorbikes, cycles, electric vehicles, water transport as well as food delivery services, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
Protesters on Twitter have begun asking people to boycott Ola's service, as mark of disagreement with the company's views
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