According to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Rapido has surpassed Ola in the category and is now the company’s fiercest rival in India. “Ola used to be our biggest rival. Rapido is, in my opinion, the more formidable rival in India right now. They aggressively entered the two-wheeler and three-wheeler markets using a subscription model with no commission. really resilient as well.
In his August 24 podcast, he told Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, “Ola is now kind of a distant third.” According to Khosrowshahi, one of Uber’s most significant markets is India.
Uber’s Market Share and Growth in India
With more than 1.4 million drivers of automobiles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and other vehicles, the nation is currently the third-largest destination in the world for the firm in terms of journeys. According to Khosrowshahi, Uber needs to win in India not just today but also in ten years.
Rapido’s Financial Sustainability Concerns
Regarding Rapido’s strategy, Khosrowshahi claimed that it gained early popularity because its subscription model allowed drivers to keep more of their profits. However, he added that Rapido was “not making money” and that its ability to expand financially will be put to the test. He declared, “We have a great deal of respect for them, and we plan to compete really hard.”
Uber’s Strategy for India’s Ride-Hailing Market
The CEO of Uber also discussed the rapid commerce and mobility industry in general and cautioned entrepreneurs against overestimating market size. Successful businesses always adjust. Build there and grow gradually if there is a product market fit in a specific niche. He stated that the total addressable markets are for fundraising decks rather than company development.
Uber views itself as a “local operating system” for daily life, covering rides, meals, groceries, and retail deliveries, according to Khosrowshahi, the former CEO of Expedia. In 2020, Uber Eats was sold to Zomato in India, giving Uber a share that was later sold. “We aren’t an investment firm. When asked about leaving Zomato, he responded, “I am capable of creating operational businesses and seeing them grow over time.”
Autonomous Vehicles Inevitable but Still Long Way to Go
Autonomous vehicles are inevitable, but they are still years away from being widely used in India, according to Khosrowshahi. Even in mature markets, autonomous car drivers are safer, but they cost a lot more. It will take a long time for autonomy to arrive in India.
Focus on Long-Term Competition
He stated, “I believe we’re looking at a 20-year horizon.” Regarding leadership, Khosrowshahi stated that while he has a natural collaborative style, he has learnt to transition to “wartime decision-making” when necessary. “Sometimes collaboration doesn’t help,” he remarked, recalling Uber’s epidemic layoffs. Here’s what we’re going to do, you must say. My team gives me credit when I say, “We’re going this way,” because they can tell that I’m paying attention most of the time.
Challenges Ahead for Rapido and Ola
Khosrowshahi went on to say that he attempts to keep a disruptor mentality despite Uber’s size. “I notice our flaws a lot more than our successes. We want to behave like a startup behind these confines. Outside, we must acknowledge that we are a large organisation, and that entails accountability,” he stated.
Quick
Shots
•Dara Khosrowshahi says Rapido has
overtaken Ola as Uber’s biggest rival in India.
•Ola now a “distant third” in
competition.
•Rapido’s strength: subscription
model, zero commission, strong presence in 2W & 3W segments.
•India is Uber’s 3rd largest market
globally by journeys.
BluSmart Mobility has seen several high-profile exits and is currently going through a significant operational reorganisation to strengthen its financial stability. As per the recent reports in the media, its Vice-President Priya Chakravarthy, Chief Business Officer Tushar Garg, Chief Technology Officer Rishabh Sood, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anirudh Arun have all resigned from their positions. According to the reports, which cited sources, Nandan Sharma, who was previously the Vice-President of Business and Operations, has been named the new CEO.
As Gensol Engineering, BluSmart’s parent business, works to terminate its current lease agreements, the taxi service provider is restructuring its business. Gensol is selling 2,997 electric cars to Refex Green Mobility, a company based in Chennai, as part of this new revamping strategy. These cars, which make up 34% of BluSmart’s 8,700 EV fleet overall, will be leased back to the ride-hailing company. Refex would also take up Gensol’s current INR 315 crore loan. According to the news report, regulatory permissions are still pending for this acquisition. BluSmart has promised that its ride-hailing business will not be impacted by these structural adjustments.
Gensol Engineering: Navigating Through Financial Roadblocks
Given Gensol Engineering’s recent financial failures, the leadership changes occur at a critical juncture. The company’s reorganisation efforts are under much more strain now that two rating agencies have reduced its borrowing status to default. BluSmart has just expanded to Mumbai and now operates in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR. According to the company, its fleet makes seven trips on average every day and is backed by a network of 50 charging hubs that house more than 6,300 charging stations. Last year, BluSmart launched the ‘BluSmart Assured’ leasing scheme to support its fleet expansion. Through this programme, investors and high-net-worth individuals can lease electric cars straight from the business. The scheme has so far added about 1,000 EVs to BluSmart’s fleet, valued at INR 150 crore.
Present Financial Outlook
In an interview with a prominent media outlet, Anmol Jaggi, the founder of Gensol Group and co-founder of BluSmart Mobility, stated that the company presently brings in INR 70 crore each month, or INR 840 crore annually. Out of the company’s total debt of INR 980 crore, as of March 2025, INR 280 crore is its outstanding net debt. Tracxn data indicates that BluSmart’s revenue in FY23 was INR 70.9 crore, up from Rs 8.1 crore in FY22. But over the same time period, net losses also increased, rising from INR 100.4 crore to INR 215.9 crore. Jaggi has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to becoming profitable in the upcoming “6-8 quarters.”
The famous ride-hailing platform Ola has decided to shut down its used cars division, Ola Cars and its quick commerce business, Ola Dash.
At a time when the quick commerce segment in India is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2025, growing 15 times its current size, why did Ola decide to close Ola Dash operations?
Ola Cars which allowed customers to buy and sell second-hand cars is also being closed down within one year of its launch. For what reasons Ola Cars was shut down? Find answers to all of these questions in this article.
Ola said that they decided to shut down both of their businesses since they wanted to focus more on Ola Electric. But, is that it? Or is there something more to it? Let’s uncover the exact reasons that led to the closing down of Ola Cars and Ola Dash.
No Laser-Sharp Focus
Ola originally started with a ride-hailing business model. In that sector, Ola became very successful. Although the company has always tried to enter new sectors. This is not the first time that Ola is closing one of its startups.
In 2015, the company founded a food delivery service Ola Cafes, a similar service to UberEats.
Ola Cafe
The company also launched a grocery delivery service Ola Stores. Both of these businesses were shut down a year later because the company was not able to attract a lot of customers.
In 2019, the company again tried to jump into the food delivery service by acquiring Foodpanda. However, the company was not able to gain the expected revenue and the company was shut down.
Even after shutting down 3 of its subsidiaries Ola’s will to experiment didn’t stop. In 2019, the company launched Ola Foods, a cloud kitchen business where the company planned to build 500 facilities across the country. But, only 50 cloud kitchens were set up in 2020.
Unfortunately, Ola Foods also failed and now the company is selling its cloud kitchen equipment at a 30-50% discount.
This year Ola tried to leverage the rapidly growing quick commerce segment with Ola Dash but, as you know, this business failed as well.
All these things show us that the company lacked the laser-sharp focus that any business needs in order to be successful in the market. There is nothing wrong with entering different markets but, you should first understand the market conditions.
Ola has 4 failed startups because the company never understood the competition and market conditions. When Ola tried to enter 3-4 different markets where the company didn’t have any expertise the company was not able to properly strategize and allocate resources to different sectors.
On top of that, Ola’s primary ride-hailing service was incurring heavy losses as well. A lot of drivers were leaving the company due to huge salary cuts. Customers as well were not using Ola due to a surge in prices.
Due to all of these reasons the company had no option other than closing down Ola Cars and Ola Dash.
Uncertain Nature of Quick Commerce
As we all know all the companies which are in the quick commerce segment are facing heavy losses. Be it Dunzo, Zomato or Swiggy Instamart.
Ola was also one of those companies which were incurring heavy losses in the quick commerce segment. But, why are these companies incurring losses?
There are two reasons for this: No customer loyalty and heavy discounts. Let’s understand both of these aspects in great detail.
To acquire customers in the quick commerce segment, you need to give heavy discounts to customers on groceries and other items in order to encourage them to try the app. When companies are giving discounts they are not making any profits. But, still, the companies are giving heavy discounts because this is the only way to make customers habituated to your app.
But, here the question arises: How long can you give customers discounts? At a certain point in time, any company like Zomato or Ola Dash have to stop giving discounts.
As customers are using their service just for discounts, there is no customer loyalty. Due to this Ola was not able to make a loyal customer base.
Apart from this, the increased competition in the market from newly launched startups like Zepto and Dunzo made things worse for Ola and the company decided to shut down Ola Dash.
Future Plans of Ola
The quick commerce segment is booming in India. There is a tough fight going on with so many startups like Zepto, Dunzo and Swiggy Instamart in order to capture the quick commerce market in India.
In December 2021, Swiggy invested $700 million into Instamart.
On the other hand, Zomato recently acquired Blinkit, a quick-commerce grocery delivery platform for Rs 4,447.
Zepto, a very popular 10-minute delivery platform, raised $200 million, taking the total valuation of the company to $900 million.
If so many companies are draining millions of money in this sector why did Ola decide to shut down Ola Dash?
Ola said that the company wants to focus more on Ola Electric. Instead of dabbling between multiple businesses Ola has reassessed its priorities and decided to use all of its resources in strengthening its electric sector.
Ola Car’s infra, technology and capabilities will be repurposed towards growing Ola Electric’s sales and service network, the company said in a statement.
Ola’s decision to shift its complete focus on the electric business makes sense because, within months of its launch, Ola Electric has already become India’s largest EV company.
Ola Electric
Ola Electric is delivering huge profits for the company, Rs 500 crore revenue in its first two months of FY 22-23. The company is on its way to surpassing a $1 billion run rate by the end of this year.
Due to all of these positive correlations the company has understood that if they want to stay in the race for a long time it must focus on its electric scooters. Ola has also planned to launch its second electric scooter before the end of this year.
Apart from focusing on its electric sector the company also wants to invest in new areas like cell manufacturing and financial services. To enter the world of fintech Ola has acquired Avail Finance, India’s first neobank that aims to provide financial services to the blue-collared workforce.
Conclusion
As Ola is now allocating all their resources towards Ola Electric it would be interesting to see the future of this company. Even though Ola Electric is India’s largest EV company, it did face a lot of problems in the past for its faulty batteries.
The competition in the electric sector has increased tremendously with players like TATA Motors, Mahindra, Okinawa, Tunwal and Kia Motors. Ola needs to continuously innovate and understand the market conditions if they want to be successful in the EV sector.
FAQs
Why did Ola shut down Ola Cars and Ola Dash?
Ola decided to shut down its used car division, Ola Cars and its quick commerce business, Ola Dash because the company wants to use all of its resources in strengthening Ola Electric. Ola Car’s infra, technology and capabilities will be repurposed towards growing Ola Electric’s sales and service network.
What is Ola Cars?
Using Ola Cars customers could buy and sell their used cars. Under this business, the company would purchase used cars from people and from the company’s driver-partners and would sell them to interested buyers.
The development of superior technology has undoubtedly benefited the entire planet in many ways. Nowadays, it isn’t easy to find a field where technology hasn’t made an impact. Technology has made its mark, especially in online rental services and booking firms.
Online vehicle booking firms have made a huge move in the transportation industry in recent years, and more drivers are opting to lease rather than buy new cars as the sticker price of new vehicles continues to rise.
As more individuals opt for Ridesharing Services, the rising popularity of shared mobility is likely to lower worldwide automobile sales. However, car sales in emerging nations are expected to surpass the influence of shared transportation during the next 15 years.
Let’s take a look at India’s top 5 car-sharing, rental, and ride-hailing startups.
Here are some of the leading car ride-hailing startups in India.
Ola
Ola – Car Ride-Hailing Startups
Ola, which was started in Mumbai in December 2010, is one of India’s largest ride-hailing and sharing businesses, competing with Uber. Riders get access to free Wi-Fi when traveling with this transportation service. Ola provides taxis inside city limits, as well as outstation services and automobile rentals. They’ve also launched Ola Bikes, a bike taxi service in a few locations across India. Customers can also opt for auto-rickshaws, compact cars, sedans, prime, and premier SUVs as a mode of transportation.
Ola Cabs has almost 4,50,000 automobiles available for travel throughout India. Ola presently operates in 169 cities across India and has over 125 million registered users. The business just received $1.1 billion in a round funded by Tencent to bolster its fight against Uber in India.
This cab company started in India and has expanded its operations to Australia and New Zealand. The firm recently debuted auto-rickshaws in Liverpool, and it now operates in seven locations throughout the United Kingdom. Ola generated $360 million in income in 2020.
In January 2020, Japan-based Orix announced the beginning of their rental service to serve clients here with Tata Motors, responding to India’s growing demand for passenger automobiles fuelled by economic growth.
Tata Motors debuted its Nexon electric SUV in January, and now the company has devised a subscription scheme for it, allowing customers to rent it for a set monthly rate. In India, the notion of a car subscription model is still gaining traction, and Tata might utilize it to boost the potential for electric vehicles shortly.
This option is only accessible in five metro cities: Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune.
A user must pay a Rs 50,000 one-time refundable security deposit as well as a monthly membership charge that varies by city and tenure term. Orix will install a complimentary EV charger and wiring up to 15 meters at the customer’s location as part of the agreement. Wiring that is longer than 15 meters will be taxed at Rs 250 per meter. In 2020, it surpassed the 2000-unit level.
Zoomcar
Zoomcar – Car ride-hailing startup
In 2013, Zoomcar was founded by Greg Moran and David Back In Bangalore. Zoom is India’s first and only car rental company to provide a self-driving plug-in electric vehicle.
You may search for a car and upload your driver’s license using the app or website. A security deposit is also required.
The firm provides you with the car details by SMS 20 minutes before pickup, and you may unlock it using the app. You may collect the keys from the glove box and drive to your destination after completing a checklist on the app. Fuel is paid for, so you won’t be charged if you stop at a petrol station.
Zoomcar also offers a zero-pollution cycle rental service named Pedal.
The Mahindra Reva E2O is the newest addition to the Zoom fleet, and Zoom members may rent a car by the hour or by the day. The E2O can go up to 100 kilometers without recharging.
Mg Motors has teamed up with Orix and Zoomcar to sell a ZS EV on a subscription basis starting at Rs 49,999 per month in 2020. To your needs, You may lease the ZS EV for 12 to 36 months in Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi. The automobile rental business has experienced tremendous development and now operates in 27 Indian cities.
Meru Cabs
Meru Cabs – Car ride-hailing startup
Meru Cabs was established in Mumbai in April 2007. In 2014, Google Now and Meru Cabs teamed together to give consumers real-time warnings.
You may book taxis using the Meru app by selecting the car type and destination. Before the cab arrives to pick you up, you may view the cab and its estimated arrival time. You’ll receive an e-bill after the ride, which you may pay with a card, cash, or the app.
Meru is a one-of-a-kind taxi service in that it does not charge spike pricing to its passengers. Instead, you and the driver may work out a price that works for both of you.
Due to their business strategy, over 12,000 drivers quit Ola and Uber in 2020 to join Meru Cabs, which generated $3.5 million in income.
Drivezy, an automobile rental platform similar to Zoomcar, was created in April 2015. The company is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. You can self-drive to your location by renting a vehicle or riding a bike. Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Karnataka, Hyderabad, Manipal, Delhi, and more have Drivezy services.
If you are over 18, you may rent a vehicle or bike with variable pricing depending on the hour, day, or week. You can also choose between gasoline and filling your requirements. The greatest part is that no security deposit is required, and refunds and payments are processed instantly. The company’s fleet includes 15,000 bicycles and 4,000 automobiles.
SoftBank, the world’s largest technology investor, and Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, have expressed interest in investing $100 million in the platform. Drivezy reached a monthly gross sales volume of $4 million in 2020. Yamaha acquired Drivezy for $45 million in 2021.
Conclusion
Car-hailing and rental services are facing a slow reduction in the gross book value of online mobility spaces, which has climbed to $2.9 billion in 2020. The automobile rental business is still dominated by Ola and Uber. The market, on the other hand, is changing toward fast-expanding bike taxis and other developing models like carpooling. These firms will have to immediately improve their game if they want to continue in the online mobility business.
FAQs
Which are the top Car ride-hailing startups in India?
Some of the top car ride-hailing startups in India are:
Ola
Orix
Zoomcar
Meru Cabs
Drivezy
Which cab service is best in India?
Some of the best cab service providers in India are:
