Many might see it as a David versus Goliath story, as the online taxi wars in India heat up, but it’s unclear to many: which one is the giant and which one is the minnow. Most might see Uber, the “startup” that’s now available in over 54 countries, as the company to beat but the truth in India remains that the homegrown companies have the advantage. And it’s about to get more unequal.
Unless Uber pulls off an acquisition of its own, the impending Ola-TaxiForSure merger is set to clearly upend the perception that it is everyone against Uber.
First, Ola beat Uber in getting TaxiForSure to sign its offer roughly totalling up to $150 million as the smaller company rejected Uber’s bid. This has sent Uber scouting for Meru even though Meru denies it on record, claiming that it is about to raise another round of funding.
Not one to be threatened by the competition, Uber feels that it will consolidate market and benefit all the players. “Competition is good for any industry as it helps improve and move the industry forward as a whole. In the end everyone wins as the key players work harder to improve, innovate and deliver a better experience to users and local communities,” an Uber spokesperson told Scroll.
Getting there, faster
Ola appears to be a minnow as compared to Uber’s humongous valuation but claims that it is growing its fleet as well as impact faster and that it is not focused on profits, for now.
An Ola spokesperson pointed out that the company has over 1,00,000 cars and it adds 1,000 drivers daily according to a company statement, while Uber refused to comment on its numbers. “We have many many thousands of driver partners across the 11 cities in India where Uber is available.”
Currently, Ola is present in 67 cities and targets to reach over 200 by the end of this year. Compared to this, Uber is only present in 11 cities for now and says that it is more intent on providing quality services to the riders. “We are currently only in 11 cities in India, but already have many, many thousands of driver partners using Uber's lead generation platform to earn a better living and provide higher quality service to hundreds of thousands of riders in India.”
Uber refused to comment on its fleet size in response to queries sent by Scroll and authoritative numbers on their fleet in India aren't publicly available.
Compliance trouble
Even though Uber’s strategy of maintaining a slim workforce spanning only 40 employees across the country would have boosted its profits, the company is headed for rough roads if it fails to comply with the latest regulations of the land. It’s a well known fact that Uber employs only three executives in every new city it launches, making it a slim company when it comes to workforce.
Ola is more comfortably placed with its existing 3,200 employees spread across cities and cross functional areas including customer service and an in-house call center which Uber still doesn’t have.
However, Uber needs to get out of its digital-only model and build an office, parking space as well as a customer care center really soon if it needs the licence to ply.
Fast mover
In December, while Uber was entangled in a legal hassle with the Delhi government, Ola was busy preparing to launch its auto rickshaw aggregating services in cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. The company quickly innovated to gain a competitive edge over other cab companies which were still dealing with just cars.
This should not undermine Uber’s efforts to come back in the game in compliance with Indian regulations. In November, the company also introduced a cheaper cab service, UberGo, at Rs 11/km to counter cheaper cab offerings by other companies and even countering city auto rickshaws.
Even recently, Ola tried to gain the upper hand by hiring talent from IIT Mumbai during its placement season. The company reportedly made 143 offers to students across IITs to bump its brigade’s capabilities. However, the company declined to make any official comment in an email to Scroll.
Unless Uber pulls off an acquisition of its own, the impending Ola-TaxiForSure merger is set to clearly upend the perception that it is everyone against Uber.
First, Ola beat Uber in getting TaxiForSure to sign its offer roughly totalling up to $150 million as the smaller company rejected Uber’s bid. This has sent Uber scouting for Meru even though Meru denies it on record, claiming that it is about to raise another round of funding.
Not one to be threatened by the competition, Uber feels that it will consolidate market and benefit all the players. “Competition is good for any industry as it helps improve and move the industry forward as a whole. In the end everyone wins as the key players work harder to improve, innovate and deliver a better experience to users and local communities,” an Uber spokesperson told Scroll.
Getting there, faster
Ola appears to be a minnow as compared to Uber’s humongous valuation but claims that it is growing its fleet as well as impact faster and that it is not focused on profits, for now.
An Ola spokesperson pointed out that the company has over 1,00,000 cars and it adds 1,000 drivers daily according to a company statement, while Uber refused to comment on its numbers. “We have many many thousands of driver partners across the 11 cities in India where Uber is available.”
Currently, Ola is present in 67 cities and targets to reach over 200 by the end of this year. Compared to this, Uber is only present in 11 cities for now and says that it is more intent on providing quality services to the riders. “We are currently only in 11 cities in India, but already have many, many thousands of driver partners using Uber's lead generation platform to earn a better living and provide higher quality service to hundreds of thousands of riders in India.”
Uber refused to comment on its fleet size in response to queries sent by Scroll and authoritative numbers on their fleet in India aren't publicly available.
Compliance trouble
Even though Uber’s strategy of maintaining a slim workforce spanning only 40 employees across the country would have boosted its profits, the company is headed for rough roads if it fails to comply with the latest regulations of the land. It’s a well known fact that Uber employs only three executives in every new city it launches, making it a slim company when it comes to workforce.
Ola is more comfortably placed with its existing 3,200 employees spread across cities and cross functional areas including customer service and an in-house call center which Uber still doesn’t have.
However, Uber needs to get out of its digital-only model and build an office, parking space as well as a customer care center really soon if it needs the licence to ply.
Fast mover
In December, while Uber was entangled in a legal hassle with the Delhi government, Ola was busy preparing to launch its auto rickshaw aggregating services in cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. The company quickly innovated to gain a competitive edge over other cab companies which were still dealing with just cars.
This should not undermine Uber’s efforts to come back in the game in compliance with Indian regulations. In November, the company also introduced a cheaper cab service, UberGo, at Rs 11/km to counter cheaper cab offerings by other companies and even countering city auto rickshaws.
Even recently, Ola tried to gain the upper hand by hiring talent from IIT Mumbai during its placement season. The company reportedly made 143 offers to students across IITs to bump its brigade’s capabilities. However, the company declined to make any official comment in an email to Scroll.
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