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Before the flock of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/You-may-soon-be-hopping-on-to-an-Ola-bus/articleshow/48155360.cms">Olas</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Uber-users-can-pay-by-cash-in-four-more-Indian-cities-now/articleshow/48170637.cms">Ubers</a> made way into our phone apps and became a preferred alternative from the daily hassles of forcing an auto-driver to go by the meter or desperately trying to hail a taxi on a rainy day, cab service provider <keyword id="205081" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Meru">Meru</keyword> used to rule the market. 
 
Being the only one with such a service, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/This-is-how-Meru-Cabs-plans-to-give-Ola-and-Uber-a-run-for-their-money/articleshow/46622043.cms">Meru</a> not only commanded a loyal base of customers who were bereft of choices, but it also provided an experience better than the regular <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/How-Startups-Like-Meru-Uber-Olacabs-TaxiForSure-Have-Transformed-Lives-Of-Taxi-Drivers/articleshow/39865931.cms">taxis</a>, that too at a similar price. 
 Then the market expanded and in came new players like <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, which aggressively promoted themselves with cheaper pricing, abundant selection in types of cabs and interesting tie-ups ensuring they made headlines day in and out. 
 
In between, Meru, the oldest cab service provider somewhat lost its footing. However, not one to lag behind, Meru today announced the launch of its new ride sharing service, 'CarPool' for its customers across India, in keeping with the added services provided by competitors Uber and Ola in the past. 
 
Currently available in Android, the service is integrated in the Meru Cabs mobile app and essentially allows <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Time-For-Indians-To-Embrace-Car-Pooling-Wholeheartedly-As-Tripda-Bags-11-million-Investment/articleshow/46065069.cms">ride-sharing</a> for people going in the same direction. 
 “We’re targeting everyone who owns a personal vehicle across the country with this service. Our research showed that atleast 50 percent of the vehicle owners would be interested in offering a ride to people, provided the safety aspect is taken care of. And, that’s where we came in,” explained <keyword id="1448760" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Siddhartha-Pahwa">Siddhartha Pahwa</keyword>, CEO of Meru Cabs. 
 
He said that anyone over the age of 18 years can register as a ride-owner by furnishing their email-address, driver’s license, phone number and Facebook profile. Additionally, a PAN card/Aadhar card verification of both the ride-owners and a ride-sharer are mandatory for the completion of the registration process. A registration will be confirmed only after the elementary verification conducted by the Meru app team is over. 
 
“Thus, we will have the details of both the ride-owner and the sharer. Our team will thus monitor all rides taking places 24x7 and raise an alarm incase something goes haywire,” added Pahwa. 
 
On being asked whether there would still be hesitation on the part of a customer to share a ride with a stranger at a time when unfortunate incidents are on the rise, he confidently explained that the reputation and association of Meru, which is a trusted brand player in the market should seal the deal. 
 
Dismissing fears of the new carpool service dividing the customer base of Meru, Pahwa said the need of the hour is to provide customers with more options in orderto make their travel effortless and cheaper. Customer satisafaction comes firsta nd foremost, he elaborates. 
 
The pricing of the ride offered is however totally upto the ride-owner. “Meru is just validating this service. It’s the ride-owner who decides if he wants to charge Rs 100 for a seat or Rs 200. There is no minimum or maximum charge levied from our side,” he stated. 
 
Asserting that Meru has already left Uber and Ola behind in terms of competition, Pahwa says that the Indian customer is more value-conscious than price conscious, which is the reason why Meru has been experiencing a 40 percent growth with a faithful set of customers despite being priced on the steeper side. 
 
“If Indian customers were price-driven and chose Uber and Ola over Meru cabs, I would’ve closed down by now,” he gleefully admits. 
 Signing off, Pahwa lets us in on a secret, “The $15 billion personal transporation industry is our target. <keyword id="3031501" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Carpool-by-Meru">Carpool by Meru</keyword> is going to assume a larger part in our business in the next three to four years.” 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Meru Cabs is actually better-off after Ola and Uber began!

Mumbai-based taxi aggregator company <keyword id="108722" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Meru-Cabs">Meru Cabs</keyword> today announced an exclusive partnership with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, to create awareness and promote the <keyword id="1068586" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Carpooling">carpooling</keyword> concept. With this tie-up, IOCL along with Meru aims to change its consumer’s behavior by asking them to start sharing their ‘Personal Car’ ride with people traveling in the same direction -by using ‘Carpool By Meru’ integrated on the ‘Meru Cabs’ mobile app. 
 
Focused on offering convenient travel options, Meru was the first cab operator to launch carpool service in India in September this year that can be availed in any Indian city by downloading the Meru Cabs App. 
 
Announcing the offer, Mr. Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO Meru Cabs said, “Carpooling is an excellent way for people to save on traveling costs, as well as reduce carbon emissions. Through this campaign we hope to encourage more and more people to adopt this convenient as well as <keyword id="6356826" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="environment">environment</keyword> friendly travel methods through our trusted services and thus promote the concept of shared economy.” 
 
To motivate its customers to begin sharing personal rides, the companies have declared a mega bumper prize of a brand new Toyota sedan car to the customer offering the maximum number of rides on Carpool by Meru. This offer is for customers based in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai &amp; Thane during the time period of 1st December to 31st January 2016. 
 
Also, as a part of a special promotional campaign, Meru is offering a discount of 50% (up to Rs.150) on app bookings only for Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) customers making a transaction of Rs.1000 or more at 30 of the IOCL retail outlets in Mumbai during the offer period.

Meru Cabs partners with Indian Oil Corporation
to promote carpooling

<keyword id="205081" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Meru">Meru</keyword>, the taxi services provider based in Mumbai, aims to be a $1 bn firm in the next six years. The company wants to expand in new cities and launch new services so that it can tap the potential of its existing markets. 
 
The company returned to profit in the December quarter after a huge gap of almost six quarters, and now aims to have a network of one lakh cars by 2022. By then, it will buy around 10,000 more vehicles. 
 
"We want to be a $ one billion organisation by 2022. We are having an year-on-year growth of 35 per cent. Last year, we grew at around 40 per cent," Meru Group CEO Siddhartha Pahwa told PTI. 
 
Meru currently operates taxi services in 23 cities, and has revenue of $ 120 million (Rs 730 crore) with a consumer base of 10 million. 
 
In the expansion plans, the company plans to expand to 45 cities by adding more tier-II cities like Patna, Bareilly, Bhopal, which have good potential by the end of next year. 
 
Out of a fleet of 20,000 cars, Meru owns 6,000 while rest are on aggregator business model. 
 
"We would continue to add 1,500- 2,000 cars every year in our own business, in which 1,000 would be for replacement of the old vehicles and rest would be addition. But on aggregator side, we are seeing 20-30 per cent growth every year," he said. 
 
"Some cities are making healthy profit at PBT level which we are ploughing back in some other cities but at gross profit level, each and every city is now making profit, which is a healthy sign," Pahwa said. 
 
"In these cities, we would continue to invest little bit more because for any city to grow, you need to make investment in terms of price offs, marketing, getting more drivers in the system. It would continue to be there," he said. 
 
Recently, Meru has launched two new services, including carpool and ride share, both of which are doing well. 
 
<a href="https://www.merucabs.com/images/meru_img6.jpg">Image source</a>

Taxi services provider Meru aims to be $1 billion firm by 2022

Starting January, Delhi government would make sure that both Delhi’s traffic and the polluted air that floats in Delhi are kept under check. It would be done by cutting the number of private cars on its roads by about half, allowing private cars with odd digits as registration numbers on one day and those with even on the next. The Delhi government is also making sure that there are enough buses, autorickshaws and Metro coaches to accommodate the resulting number of people relying on Delhi public transports. 
 On the other hand, the brains behind taxi companies and car aggregators such as <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="205081" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Meru">Meru</keyword> Cabs are already planning on steps to take the best advantage of this step taken by the <keyword id="260213" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arvind-Kejriwal">Arvind Kejriwal</keyword> government. 
 Uber, for example, is planning to launch <keyword id="6591085" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="UberPool">UberPool</keyword>, its car pooling service, in Delhi after a successful run in Bengaluru. While Bangalore UberPool service is only meant for commercial vehicles, the Delhi arm would target the 28 lakh private car owners. 
 
Meru, on the other hand, will be launching a mobile app in January so that passengers can pool cabs online. "The app will identify two people within a radius of two-three km travelling in the same direction and can share their taxi ride," Meru CEO Siddhartha Pahwa told ET. "The driver will pick one person first and within 10 minutes will also pick up the second person." Meru, which is already running many cabs on Delhi roads, is expecting almost 30% rise in the demand for cabs during the trial period. To attract customers, it would offer 35% discount for ride sharing. Even if a passenger can't find someone to share the ride, he or she would still be given the discount. 
 
Ola, the taxi aggregator service, recently launched minibus shuttle services in Gurgaon and Noida, which they plan to extend to Delhi. The taxi-sharing app is being beta-tested in Bengaluru right now, and could very well be rolled out in NCR to make use of the odd-even rule. 
 
Delhi is one of the world's most heavily polluted cities, which is why the government has planned to launch this odd-even scheme. Starting January 1, a 15-day trial period would begin between 8 am and 8 pm, Monday to Saturday. As per the rule, odd-numbered cars would be allowed to run on odd dates and those with even numbers would be allowed on even dates. 
 
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has given his support to this the plan at a recent meeting he had Delhi CM Kejriwal. It means that Delhi Police, which comes under the control of the central government, would be taken on board to ease the application of this rule. 
 
To discuss a carpooling policy, fleet owners and taxi aggregators, including representatives of Pool my Ride, Embarq India, Tripda.in, Carzonrent, Uber, Ola, Shuttl.com, NearGroup.in, Ibibo Ryde, Mega Carpool Pvt., Mega Cabs, LetsDriveAlong.com, BaxiTaxi, Orahi and 
Cykul, had a meeting with the members of the Delhi Dialogue Commission, which serves as the think tank of the Delhi government. 
 
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/Ola-to-invest-Rs-150-crore-in-Andhra-Pradesh/48986145.cms">Image source</a>

Cab aggregators to reap the benefits of Delhi’s Odd-Even car rule

With <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> and <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> emerging as the leaders of the growing <keyword id="3140795" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="online-taxi-services">online taxi services</keyword> space in India, it seems <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Meru-Cabs-is-actually-better-off-after-Ola-and-Uber-began/articleshow/48759979.cms">Meru</a> who pioneered the industry is losing at its own game. From tying up with global companies, innovating new features on their apps to complying aggressively with government regulations, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Ola-changes-tact-to-beat-Uber-at-its-game-Plans-to-invest-Rs-5000-crore-/articleshow/48970068.cms">Ola</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Uber-Believed-To-Be-Keen-On-Acquiring-Meru-Cabs/articleshow/46108451.cms">Uber</a> are invading the industry with cheaper travel alternatives as their main motto.
 

	In all this aggression, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Meru-becomes-the-first-Indian-radio-taxi-player-to-enter-strategic-international-alliance/articleshow/49470450.cms">Meru seems to have lost out at the main idea of conception</a>. Other than going slow on innovation, its rates are much higher too. But hold it right there! The fixed rates are the best strategy that the company is betting on right now and they believe this is what is going to make them grow at a much faster rate than the others. How?
 Well, hear it from one of the most defined and aggressive CEOs of the space, <keyword id="1448760" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Siddhartha-Pahwa">Siddhartha Pahwa</keyword>, CEO of <keyword id="108722" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Meru-Cabs">Meru Cabs</keyword>. 
	
		Can you give an overview of the present online taxi services space in India?
	 
	
		We analysed this industry 2007 and believed that the potential is pretty huge. We knew that a good quality transportation services is what the consumers require. The penetration of personal cars in India is very low, as low as about 5-6 %. While globally 40-50 % of the people own the personal cars. The reason is in India the cost of owning a car is significantly higher in India in terms of purchase parity. Therefore we provided taxis as a good travel solution to people. 
	 
	
		Even after eight years, the industry is growing at a pace of roughly 25 per cent. We see an organised growth at 50 percent in the next 3-5 years.
	 
	
		What are your future plans?
	 
	
		Carpooling would become very big in India. By carpooling we mean that pooling of taxi rides as well as people pooling their personal vehicles. This is the future in the next 3-5 years.
	 
	
		There are many start-ups coming up who provide carpooling services. How is that affecting your business?
	 
	
		At this point of time the industry is not looking for a loss or gain. The category is still developing and it is known to develop by people coming from unorganised sector to organised sector. Newer players coming into the market will only open up the market in a larger scale. Like any other industry, we would go through a mushrooming phase and there would be a consolidation phase of 3-5 years.
	 
	
		You rates are much higher than Ola and Uber. How do you plan to compete with them?
	 People are ready to pray the price for our product. That’s why we are seeing 35 per cent stagger in our business. We give a robust, advanced product to our consumer where a consumer can book for a taxi even 10 days in advance at fixed rates. Secondly, we have the product at the airport too. Third is our fixed pricing. So people do not see us overcharging during peak demand, like the <keyword id="3140794" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="search-pricing">search pricing</keyword> done by others. 
	
		But don’t you think if you bring down the price, there would be more growth of your company?
	 
	
		If the quality is not there, people will not use it after a point of time. 
	 
	
		What is the future of the industry?
	 
	
		Partners would develop and they would start partnerships with technological companies. We would be able to provide good technology partnerships to these players.
	 
	
		How are the current government regulations affecting the industry and what should be done?
	 
	
		Both the central and the state government believe that it is an important industry and that is why the laws have been amended at such a fast pace. There are three things that the government is very clear about and they believe these will help the industry to grow in a better and balanced manner.
	 
	
		1. They say that more individuals and micro-entrepreneurs should partner in the industry to develop this category and therefore they have opened up the industry by saying that anybody who has a car can get a taxi license and join any of the operators.
	 
	
		2. We want good safety to be deployed by the aggregator or the operator. Who is the driver, driving patterns of the driver etc must be checked by the company. That makes the company responsible for any mishaps or misconduct by the driver.
	 
	
		3. The third thing they are saying is that they want to move away from a fixed fare structure. However we will not allow a free market economy completely because we have seen in the past that consumers have been forced to pay 5x, even 10x the fares. We will give a price range and within that the dynamics of the industry has to be governed. 
	 
	
		How do you ensure the safety of the consumers?
	 
	
		We have three robust processes at place. The drivers go through four days of training, teaching them how to deal with passengers, people with special needs. There is a psychologist sitting in the panel. The customer can register a number of a known person on our app and we share details of the trip with him/her every time the customer takes a ride. There is also a ‘In case of emergency’ button in the app. If you touch the button and within 10 seconds an alarm goes in our call centres whereby we get in touch with the cab driver and passenger. The alarm also goes in the emergency number that is saved by the passenger.
	 
	
		What are your IPO plans?
	 
	
		At this point of time IPO might not be the right financial solution for the company because once you get listed the amount of pressure that is on you to disclose your company’s numbers and profitability is huge. The industry does not need this right now. This industry will need at least $1.5-$2 bn more investment to change the behaviour of the consumer markedly.
	 
	
		What is your estimated revenue growth?
	 
	
		We expect $110 m revenue at the end of this financial year.
	 

(Image credits: Indiatimes)

EXCLUSIVE: Meru CEO isn’t afraid of competition from Uber and Ola. He thinks there is enough place to co-exist

Keeping in mind the vast online commuter market, India’s top cab aggregator, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> is now prepping-up to introduce <keyword id="3071546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="motorcycle-taxis">motorcycle taxis</keyword>. 
 The Bangalore-based cab aggregator also plans to launch a shuttle bus service. Not just this, but Ola users will now be able to avail <keyword id="3072073" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="car-pooling">car-pooling</keyword> feature on its mobile application, reported The Economic Times. 
 
The motorcycle taxis and shuttle service, however, might face regulatory issues as these do not have any legal frameworks so far. 
 
Internal sources, requesting anonymity, informed that the bike taxis will be on the lines of Indonesia's GoJek, Blue-Jek and Grabbike, which is being used to transport people as well as goods. 
 Another major add-on to the mobile application, <keyword id="3071503" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="OlaShare">OlaShare</keyword>, is being worked-on for quite some time now. The company, however, declined to respond on the email queries by the business daily. 
 
The firm is also in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Ola-Cabs-new-round-of-fund-raising-to-value-it-above-5-billion/articleshow/49072304.cms">advanced stage of closing a financing round</a> of about $500 million (Rs 3,000 crore), which will give a muscle to the firm for its forthcoming plans. 
 The new services, if compared to the other cab-service providers, might give a tough fight to San Francisco-based <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, which is targeting to enhance its business outside the US with India being one of the most potential markets. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Uber-hopes-to-make-India-its-second-largest-market-sees-Ola-as-competition/articleshow/49087294.cms">(​Uber hopes to make India its second-largest market, sees Ola as competition)</a> 
 
Uber, however, introduced UberPool, its car-pooling service in India, starting with Bengaluru. 
 
Kartik Hosanagar, a professor of technology and digital business at The Wharton School termed the bike-taxi move an interesting one and said, "As of now, it should be seen as an experiment. But one with tremendous potential for Ola... However, the company would have to navigate around regulations." 
 
HeyTaxi, a Mumbai-based motorcycle-taxi company which was launched in June, came under fire from the city's transport department, which has termed the service illegal. 
 A top official at <keyword id="151058" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-Transport-Department">Delhi Transport Department</keyword> said the state was framing a scheme for a motorcycle-taxi service but there were issues to consider. "As of now it will be deemed illegal. We were planning to launch such a service in Delhi but have put it on hold due to safety concerns," he said. Instead, Delhi launched a scheme for renting self-driven motorbikes in August. 
 
Car-pooling services, too, are in a regulator grey zone. Several state governments encourage personal carpooling as a way to lessen traffic and pollution, but as a business, the service is not covered under any legal framework. 
 
Safety is another area of concern, as riders would have to car-pool with strangers. Meru Cabs verifies co-riders with their PAN or Aadhaar numbers while BlaBlaCar mandates a social network account such as Facebook for logging in. 
 
Experts, on the other hand, agreed upon the fact that car-pooling as a business has huge potential. 
Image: thinkstock

Ola is going for the kill! Uber already sees it as competition

India is justifiably in frenzy over its capital’s deadly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=air+pollution">air pollution</a> levels, and taxi aggregators are more than happy to milk Delhi’s already controversial odd-even policy. The country's only profitable online cab service <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Meru">Meru</a> today jumped onboard to offer a ride share option in Delhi NCR. With days to go, every player in the business is projecting ride share as an ‘eco-friendly’ option to solve Delhi’s crisis situation. Don’t believe me? Hear it from them. 
 Ishan Gupta, Category head, Shared Mobility at <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> said, “We are cognizant of the fact that 13 of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India, with vehicular pollution being the major source of pollution.” <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber">Uber</a> was not left wanting either. 
 
The company stressed that in its first eight months in LA, passengers did over 5 million carpool trips, cutting the carbon dioxide pollution by 1,400 metric tons. 
 
Ruchica Tomar, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber">Uber</a>’s Spokesperson said, “The government has taken a number of bold steps to deal with the problem of congestion and pollution but we believe that we all can do more to drive change in our cities by getting more people into fewer cars.” 
 
While ride-sharing must be encouraged, here’s the point. The idea that it will drastically reduce Delhi’s pollution is false. A recent study found that pollution from commuter vehicles account for only 2.5% of Delhi’s overall pollution. (<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Diesel-vehicle-ban-may-not-clean-city-air/articleshow/50146994.cms">Source</a>) 
 
What more, while the overall taxi business is estimated at a whopping $7.5 billion by 2022 with a healthy 30% growth rate, most operators would also agree that it’s too early to put a deadline to when ride share might be profitable. 
 "Any new concept comes with a minimum bleed of 12-18 months. We've strong investors who back our decision, and we're happy to bear it", Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO, <keyword id="205081" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Meru">Meru</keyword> agreed. 
 
So if to bleed or not to bleed is not the question, why are taxi operators investing money and time into a scheme that is at such a nascent stage? You see the stakes are high, and the clientele huge. That’s exactly why they’re willing to take the gamble…and of course because they’re concerned citizens. Of course. 
 
Coming back to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Meru">Meru</a>, all of its 1500 cabs operating in Delhi NCR will now allow ride share. The company will ramp up its fleet by 20-30% to cope with the upcoming demand. It also plans to roll out ride share across 10 cities by mid 2016. A senior official said the company might extend ride share to its Eve and Genie variants too. 
 
The bottom-line is that if I'm getting my cab 30% cheaper, I'm game! I’m sure any Indian will be. 
 
Is that all we can do to solve Delhi’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=air+pollution">pollution</a>? Think. India, think. 
 
 Image credit: Indiatimes

Is Delhi’s ride-share frenzy worth it?

After wooing its consumers by providing a variety of discounts and subsidies, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber+">Uber </a>has now announced that that its prime focus will be on leveraging technology for cost cutting. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Eric+Alexander">Eric Alexander</a>, <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>’s Asia head, said, "This is not a game of renting market share.” 
 
While explaining the discounting process of the industry, Eric said, "You do subsidies when you are growing and to build awareness for both drivers and riders. But the funding will dry out and discounting cannot go on forever. And that's where tech comes into play. For example, with carpool, Uber can do more trips per hour and keep the utilisation numbers high for drivers, and then you can afford to drop prices." 
 
Under the current practice, Uber provides Rs 125 per trip as incentive to its drivers across most Indian cities. Moreover, the cost per ride to the customer is also discounted. 
 <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, Uber’s biggest rival, is also offering heavy discounts and subsidies to lure more and more customers. Recently, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, said that the company offers incentives to drivers and customers only in the early stages of it entering a city. 
 
"As we go along, we put a lot more value of services for our drivers, like car loans and house loans; we build a lot of community services," added Aggarwal. 
 With an aim to get maximum market share, companies like Uber, Ola, <keyword id="205081" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Meru">Meru</keyword> and<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=+TaxiForSure"> TaxiForSure</a> are offering rides which are as cheap as an auto rickshaw ride. 
 
The discounting game of taxi rides started two years back when Uber had initially entered the Indian market. 
 
Image: indiatimes

Uber’s just figured a brilliant new cost-cutting method, and it’s doing wonders to its Indian biz

<keyword id="2401770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BlaBlaCar">BlaBlaCar</keyword>, the global player leading in <keyword id="1741372" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ride-sharing">ride sharing</keyword> services entered India last January and it has already captured a huge segment of the market here. With their presence in 700 cities across the country and having already shared a million seats in the last one year, they are growing at a break neck speed. 
 Entering a market that is already highly competitive with players like <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, Meru and many more carpooling start-ups coming up in the last 2 years, BlaBlaCar plays the game a little bit differently from the others. 
 
“Cheaper service and availability are the main business strategies in India. In Europe we have already made our mark as the cheapest ride sharing service for long distances too, in India it is more about the availability than the price,” said Raghav, India country manager of BlaBla car. 
 
He added that the main challenge is explaining to people what this is, as it is a new concept. But their numbers speak a different truth. During the odd-even rule in Delhi, they had a 65% increase in their services. 
 
“We will start integrating Goverment ID to authentic the identity in the platform soon,” he said.

You Searched For "Carpool by Meru" and got 9 results

Meru Cabs is actually better-off after Ola and Uber began!

Poulomi Das

Meru Cabs partners with Indian Oil Corporation to promote carpooling

BI India Bureau

Taxi services provider Meru aims to be $1 billion firm by 2022

BI India Bureau

Cab aggregators to reap the benefits of Delhi’s Odd-Even car rule

BI India Bureau

EXCLUSIVE: Meru CEO isn’t afraid of competition from Uber and Ola. He thinks there is enough place to co-exist

Usha Rani Das

Ola is going for the kill! Uber already sees it as competition

BI India Bureau

Is Delhi’s ride-share frenzy worth it?

Saikat Pyne

Uber’s just figured a brilliant new cost-cutting method, and it’s doing wonders to its Indian biz

BI India Bureau

Exclusive: BlaBlaCar is zooming ahead in India. Clear the way!

Usha Rani Das

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