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Across major Indian cities a silent revolution is brewing among taxi drivers who are gaining from the advent of a new breed of startups that are transforming the industry. 
 
Monthly income of several taxi drivers have at least tripled and a few with leadership skills have become entrepreneurs themselves, by managing scores of other drivers. 
 
The startups, which use technology to manage this network of drivers and link them to customers, earn a 2-5 per cent commission from the driver on every trip. Companies like Olacabs, TaxiForSure, Meru and Uber are making a dent in India's taxi-rentals market estimated at about $ 6 billion. 
 
In the process, they are changing the lives of thousands of drivers. ET takes a close look at five people who have benefited enormously from this rising trend. 
 
Khamer Gulzar B.Com first year dropout MERU CABS INCOME BEFORE: NIL 
 After having worked in Dubai as a sales executive for about 15 years, Khamer Gulzar returned to India in 2003 with some <keyword id="25450" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="savings">savings</keyword> to start a restaurant. It failed. He started a used car business with the leftover savings. 
 
Two failed ventures landed Gulzar in deep debt of Rs 15 lakh. That's when he decided to join Meru Cabs as a driver in 2009. Within four years, Gulzar has become debt free. He earns about Rs 40,000 per month, of which he saves nearly Rs 10,000. 
 
"My next goal is to buy my own house and ensure my kids have the best education," said Gulzar, a father to two school-going children. "My daughter wants to be a doctor and I can support her dream with this job," said Gulzar, who owns a Mahindra Logan cab. 
 
Bharathi Veerath School dropout UBER INCOME BEFORE: Rs 14,000 
 
Bharathi Veerath migrated from Warangal in 2005 to Bangalore with her mother and brother in search of a livelihood. A school dropout, she took to odd jobs of tailoring and working in travel agencies, before taking to driving taxis with an all women operated Angel Cabs last year. 
 Veerath was the first woman licenced <keyword id="51966" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Taxi-driver">taxi driver</keyword> in India. She earned Rs 15,000 per month till October as a driver with Angel Cabs, when she heard of India entry of USbased taxi hailing application Uber. She decided to risk and join Uber. Veerath bought a <keyword id="67915" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ford-Fiesta">Ford Fiesta</keyword>, loaned by Canara Bank on an <keyword id="6357050" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="EMI">EMI</keyword> of Rs 17,000 per month. Within five months, her income increased to Rs 45,000 per month, from her own car which she drives for Uber and other taxi fleet operators. 
 "Owning my car has given me freedom to work upon my will," said Veerath, who loves to drive for almost 12 hours a day. When not in a mood to take work, she simply switches off her <keyword id="6354606" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="iPhone">iPhone</keyword> which has the Uber app loaded on it. 
 
GG Balaji SSC dropout SAVAARI INCOME BEFORE: Rs 10,000 
 
While taking a few tourists around Coorg last year, Bangalore-based <keyword id="6371561" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cab-driver">cab driver</keyword> GG Balaji's father suffered a cardiac problem. He left the cab in Coorg and returned to Bangalore to mortgage family gold to have a bypass surgery done for his father. None of the local taxi operators came to his rescue. 
 
That's when Balaji decided to attach himself to Savaari Car Rentals, an Intel Capital-funded taxi rentals startup, as a full time driver. His monthly income has grown from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 35,000 within six months. Over and above that, Balaji gets a diesel allowance of about Rs 20,000 per month. 
 
"It's a nice feeling to know that a fixed salary will get credited every month," said Balaji, who had earlier served in Indian Army's Corp of Artillery Air Defence till 1996 on the borders. Balaji's next goal is to buy a plot of land. "I am also buying a Tata Manza this Diwali and attaching a relative of mine who will pay me a monthly commission on it," said Balaji. 
 
Reshma Banu 12th Standard Pass OLACABS INCOME BEFORE: NIL 
 
 
Bangalore-based Reshma Banu, a housewife, morphed into a mini entrepreneur in 2006 when she started her car rental business in 2006, egged on by her husband. She bought a Tata Indica with a bank loan. With the emergence of taxi startups in Bangalore, last year, her business took off. 
 Banu signed up with Olacabs as an operator last year. Her business has now grown to a fl eet of 16 cars, which includes Innovas, Fiestas and Micras. "I bought five <keyword id="46283" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nissan">Nissan</keyword> Micra cars for use in Olacabs last month at a discount of Rs 1 lakh per car offered by the company," she said. 
 
"The drive to be an independent woman keeps me motivated," said Banu. Banu has also tied up with seven more aggregators and earns a net profit of about Rs 1 lakh a month, from Olacabs alone. "My next goal is to buy five more cars, this year," she added. 
 
Rajesh Kumar 7th Standard Pass TAXIFORSURE INCOME BEFORE: Rs 15,000 
 
Delhi-based Rajesh Kumar used to be a bus driver earning Rs 15,000 per month before he attached himself with TaxiForSure in January, last year. 
 
On a visit to Delhi, TaxiForSure chief executive Aprameya Radhakrishnan, asked Kumar, the name of a company, if he ever owned one. Kumar came out with the name 'Shabnam Cabs'. 
 
In March 2013, Shabnam Cabs was up and running in Delhi as a local taxi operator. The 43-year-old now has over 100 cab drivers under him, and earns a commission of 2 per cent per trip from each of them in addition to Rs 1,000 as monthly commission per driver. 
 
His monthly gross income has increased 10-fold to Rs 1.2 lakh, out of which he gets a profit Rs 60,000. Father of two grown up kids, Kumar plans to have his son involved in the business, after he graduates from Delhi University. 
 
"My next goal is to expand my business to Chandigarh and Jaipur," said Kumar, who was recently flown to Hyderabad by TaxiForSure to coach newly attached drivers.

How Startups Like Meru, Uber, Olacabs, TaxiForSure Have Transformed Lives Of Taxi Drivers

BANGALORE: The fight to win over the Indian taxi passenger has intensified with aggregator Olacabs and cab hailing app Uber slashing prices by a fourth in Delhi—a development that is likely to force rivals to follow suit. 
 
While Ola has cut rates in its lowerend car business—Ola mini—to Rs 10 /km, Uber has cut prices for its premium segment Uber BLACK. Separately, the San Francisco-based taxi hailing app also announced that it will be launching its affordable ride service UberX in three more Indian cities: Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. “We are pushing our efficiency system to the maximum,” said Shailesh Sawlani, general manager of Uber in Mumbai. "We see this as a daily commute option for our riders and plan to maintain these prices if customers ride with us as much as we anticipate." 
 UberX Mumbai fares are Rs 15/km with a minimum base fare of Rs 50 and total minimum fare of Rs 125. The latest moves come after Uber cut its prices in Bangalore by 25% last month. Ola also reduced fares to Rs10/km for its <keyword id="2210965" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola-Mini">Ola Mini</keyword> service in the Garden City. “We have been able to optimise our inventory,” said Pranay Jivrajka, vice president of operations at Olacabs. 
 
According to industry estimates, taxi companies are struggling to keep pace with the rising demand and on average cannot accommodate a fifth of the bookings. To address this problem Ola said it will increase the number of cabs available on its mobile app by about 35% to 3,200 in Delhi alone. Ola’s total fleet size is about 15,000. 
 
“These price cuts are just a starting point to acquire customers and establishing the brand image till the time you hit a critical mass,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak. “At Rs 10/km Ola is making losses on each Ola Mini ride,” said a source directly familiar with the matter. Same is the case with Uber, according to another source. Uber’s price drop in Bangalore is, however, for a limited duration. 
 The company has not specified the timeframe. Other competitors like TaxiFor-Sure are focussing on discount codes to expand the customer base instead of cutting prices. “We keep doing event-related promotions and offer discount vouchers from time to time,” said Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder and chief executive of <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword>. 
 
“Till the time, taxi aggregators will not face pressure to turn profitable, the freebies will continue,” said Jaspal Singh, cofounder of Valoriser Consultants, which provides market research services for transportation companies. “These companies are looking to build valuation by expanding geographic reach, recruiting more number of drivers and attracting bookings to increase revenue.” 
 However other aggregators like <keyword id="108722" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Meru-Cabs">Meru Cabs</keyword> and Savaari cabs feel that price cuts is not sustainable long-term. “Meru does not believe in price wars,” said Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO of MERU Cabs. “Consumers will not take a cab because it’s cheap but for its reliability, safety and professional service.”

Win For Customers as Taxi Companies Like Olacabs, Uber Cut Fares In Delhi, Others May Follow

This Diwali, cab drivers in Delhi were offered gifts ranging from LCD TVs and iPhones to scholarship for their children as cab operators are wooing drivers. Since availability of <keyword id="432469" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="cabs">cabs</keyword> is a crucial factor in winning customers’ trust and the supply is not able to keep pace with increasing demand, keeping the drivers happy seems to the key. 
 "Nothing drives an entrepreneur more than rewards," said Anand Subramaniam, director for marketing communications at <keyword id="1006428" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Olacabs">Olacabs</keyword>, which has even helped drivers buy cars. "We have had occasions when 100 cars were sold in one day. Drivers with best ratings get LCD TVs and washing machines," he added. 
 
Olacabs had received $210 million (Rs 1,290 crore) from Japan's Softbank last week. 
 Apart from Olacabs, other operators like <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, Ola, <keyword id="108722" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Meru-Cabs">Meru Cabs</keyword> and TaxiForSure are also looking to expand themselves. In India, there are about 5.5 lakh commercial cabs for 10 large cities having a total population of about 6 crore. 
 
"The biggest challenge for the industry is to balance demand and supply," said Jaspal Singh, Valoriser Consultants.

Cab Operators Lure Drivers With Cash And Gifts

Gone are the days when you had to contact the local travel agency to get a cab or hail one off the road or the neighborhood taxi stand. The proliferation of radio cab services across several major cities in India has allowed seamless booking of cabs anytime and anywhere over a call, and now through smartphone <keyword id="6354741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Apps">apps</keyword>. 
 
Uber 
 
The San Francisco-based transportation network company prefers to position itself as a technology company that offers mobile apps to connect passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services. 
 The service was recently launched in India, and offers two tiers of cars for hire – UberBLACK and uberX – appealing to a broader cross-section of the market. The service, which has grown to 10 cities, is already making India the biggest market for Uber outside of the <keyword id="6356955" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-states">United States</keyword>. 
 You need to sign up using the app with your credit card (some debit cards work too). The app shows the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of available cars around you. Once you book it, you can track the reserved car’s location on a map and contact the <keyword id="6366401" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Driver">driver</keyword> as well. After the ride, the amount is debited from the linked card and you don’t have to pay any cash to the driver. The app also allows ridesharing, so two friends sharing a ride can split the fare between two seamlessly. 
 
Uber is a great way to ‘hail a cab’ via an app. But you cannot book one in advance, and that sometimes is a concern, for example: you don’t want to leave a booking till last minute for a 4 am flight. 
 
Meru Cabs 
 Meru Cabs is one of the most popular and earliest radio cabs service in India. The fleet service provides services in seven cities - Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, <keyword id="6354321" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword>, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Chennai – with two fleet levels, Meru and Meru Plus. 
 Unlike Uber, the Meru Cabs app is only needed for booking the cab. Once the cab has been booked and you’ve contacted the driver, you don’t need the app for the ride. Of course it’s good to have to check out route details and share <keyword id="154361" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="feedback">feedback</keyword>, but it’s not required. The meter is available in the car and you need to pay off the driver at the end of the trip. 
 
Also, the app allows you book a cab for a trip right away (within 35 minutes) or in advance beyond 35 minutes for up to 3 days. You can also check out you booking history from within the app. 
 
Mega Cabs 
 
Similar to Meru Cabs in service and app experience, Mega Cabs is also one of the early radio cabs service in the country. The only difference is that Mega Cabs does not have fleet/car options, and has a unified fare. 
 With presence in six cities – Delhi NCR, <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword>, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Amritsar, and Ludhiana – the company claims to be India’s largest taxi service network. 
 
Olacabs 
 
Ola is quite simply the Indian Uber and has quickly grown to serve 10 cities already. Modelled on the latter, Olacabs does not own its own fleet and partners with car rental services making their cars for hire available through the app. Like Uber, there are two fleet levels, sedan and mini, and even the referral credit is the same Rs 300! 
 
Of course, the Indian company takes care of lack of penetration of credit cards in the country. You can recharge your account to keep ‘Ola Money’ in your account for frequent payments, or pay cash to the driver at the end of the trip. Also, my only gripe with Uber is taken care of as you can make a booking in advance as well. 
 
TaxiForSure 
 The latest entrant in the market, TaxiForSure, intends to bring affordable <keyword id="160739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cab-service">cab service</keyword> to the masses, with fares that are slightly less than the options above. Available in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, and Baroda, the service offers the option of a hatchback or sedan in most cities. 
 
Like other services, you could book a cab for a trip right away or make a booking in advance. However, the ‘right away’ is not clearly defined and there’s no way to specify an exact time. If you are making an immediate booking, you could be offered a cab in the next ten minutes or an hour later. 
(Image: Uber)

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