In Fierce Cab Hailing App War In India, Uber Has Two Global Firsts

With competition getting brutal in the cab-summoning space, Uber is thinking up innovative ways to press ahead of its rivals in India. Last week, it launched two new initiatives which it has not attempted in any other country.

In New Delhi, India’s capital, Uber launched uberAUTO, a new hailing feature for autorickshaws. With this, the cab hailing startup has entered middle-class India’s territory where the humble, inexpensive three-wheeler autorickshaws are used for travelling short distances within cities. The three-wheeler can be summoned with the tap of a button on the smartphone app and Uber will not charge a booking fee and rides will be offered at government-mandated fares.

Uber is stepping up its efforts against key Indian competitor Ola, which already offers autorickshaw-summoning feature on its app.

Uber’s new service is offered as a cash-only service, another global first for the San Francisco-headquartered startup which only accepts digital payments elsewhere. In a cash-dominated Indian economy, the move will help Uber tap into a new customer segment.

India, Uber’s second-largest market globally, is key to its growth because of the vast market opportunity presented by low car ownership and highly inadequate and inefficient public transport systems. “India is one of our fastest growing markets in the history of Uber and one where we are investing heavily in continued growth,” said Travis Kalanick, CEO, Uber Technologies, in a statement last month.

Uber operates in 11 cities across the country where it sees intense rivalry with leading and much-larger Indian cab-summoning app, the SoftBank-backed Ola. Even as Uber announced its entry into the autorickshaw market, Ola said it was already the largest player in the on-demand auto booking space with 40,000 autos on its platform in six Indian cities including Bangalore, Delhi and Pune. The Bangalore-headquartered startup announced a $310 million funding round recently.

It’s been far from a smooth ride for Uber after a horrific rape incident in New Delhi involving an Uber driver. Since then, Uber has been offering its service in New Delhi under a ‘no-profit’ model, charging no booking or service fees.