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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> has recently unveiled an in-house route optimization software 'Flight Map'. Touted to be a boon for businesses that involves traveling, the software was fundamentally designed for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> and its two other ventures, Dodo and Fatafat. 
 
The solution gives you the best order in which products should be delivered, factoring in aspects like time, maximum carrying capacity of the vehicle and the total cost involved. 
 Business Insider spoke to Technical Head <keyword id="3490665" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sanjay-dhakar">Sanjay Dhakar</keyword> to get a better idea about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a>’s latest product. 
 
Why develop a routing software? 
This is an industry-specific problem faced by sales-persons and logistics players every day. Some US companies have such APIs, but charge upwards of $50 per month per driver. 
 Our potential customers range from <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> companies like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Amazon&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>, food and grocery delivery startups like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Grofers&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Grofers</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Zomato&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Zomato</a> to even B2B delivery. Everybody likes useful off-the-shelf products. 
 
How is this different from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Google+Maps&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Google Maps</a>? 
Our algorithm works on top of Google’s API. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Google+Maps&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Google Maps</a> provides an open API for maps. It offers the shortest distance and time between two points. Route optimization about finding the most efficient route if you have multiple deliveries. You’re minimizing the traveling distance and time. 
 
How is this different from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>’s heat map? 
We’re typically never predicting demand. We have the orders, and are analyzing possible combinations of routes. 
 
If you’re considering over 1000 deliveries a day, the possible number of routes will be a huge figure. Our algorithm optimizes the calculation that goes into deciding the best route. 
 
How long did it take to develop this? 
A team of 5 developers worked on this for 6 months. We used it internally for 3-4 months, and now we’re opening it for the market. 
 
What’s the monetization model? 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> is releasing the API for two types of services, 'simple vehicle routing problem' and 'pickup and delivery problem'. 
 
Up to 100 orders, the service is free. Beyond that, there will be some nominal charges. The pricing will be a subscription model based on volume. 
 
Monetization potential 
It’s pretty hard to say at this point. We’ve rolled this out only last week. We’re in advanced talks with several companies. By the next week, we’re looking to partner with some of them.

Jugnoo Tech Head explains why any
delivery-based startup needs their latest product

He has re-launched into <keyword id="2213500" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hyper-local">hyper-local</keyword>, an area-specific category that has spelt the death for many an Indian entrepreneur. He claims to be making profits from day one, and will stop the day he doesn’t. While people know him primarily as the co-founder of an auto-hailing business, he’s planning something else on the sidelines. 
 
Business Insider sat down with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> founder-CEO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Samar+Singla&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Samar Singla</a> to decode his business model. 
 
At a time when everybody’s abandoning ship, you’ve re-launched into hyper-local. Why? 
Everybody thinks <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=hyper-local&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">hyper-local</a> is dead because a few startups failed. The reason they failed is that they were doing the business wrong. We know the right way, and we’re going ahead with it. 
 
What is the right way? 
Most startups had a utopic idea that anything and everything would come to your doorstep. The pain-point wasn’t really there. It’s there for fresh produce. The only way to get farm fresh produce is to visit the local vegetable vendor, who’ll overcharge and give you bad quality. 
 
It’s also not cheap to deliver stock. When you have somebody on your payroll making only 5-6 deliveries, you have too much of dead cost. This can be done by us as we have a lot of density. 
 
Is <keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword> break even? 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> has Autos, Dodo and Fatafat. Dodo and Fatafat are positive. That’s our condition. We won’t do it if we aren’t positive. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> isn’t positive because of burn by <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>. They burn so much money in taxis, it has to trickle down in some capacity to us. You have to keep autos cheaper than taxis, so we have to burn (cash) as well. You can’t avoid that. They’ll have to stop the bloodbath for us to stop. 
 
However, we’re not burning in the magnitudes of Ola and Uber, so we’re better off. 
 
Do you see the bloodbath ending anytime soon? 
The way things are going they (Ola and Uber) are not going to end this anytime soon. Cartelization has to happen. However, India won’t have one company ruling the entire market. The question is who gets a bigger share. 
 
Where do you see the majority of your revenue coming from? 
5 years down the line I think it’s going to be Fatafat. However, in the next 2 years <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> <keyword id="32870" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Auto">auto</keyword> is going to be the biggest. It’s a matter of time and scale. Fatafat scales slower, but the ticket size is bigger and the frequency quicker. Autos scale faster, but it’s a low ticket size, highly competitive business. 
 
It’s like the McDonald's Rs. 25 Burger. I lose money on every burger I sell, but the traffic I get can be monetized. 
 
Do you have a deadline for the cash burn? 
My Rs. 25 burger will not stop. The strategy is to ensure my other businesses make enough money. My business will be overall positive in 3 years even if Ola-Uber keep burning. 
 
My aim is to ensure the other two channels make enough money, and let Ola-Uber burn. I don’t care. As a company I need to make money. 
 
What’s the plan with the auto business? 
It’ll get me cheap customers and the logistics network for my other businesses. 
 
If I have 100,000 autos at my command, I’ll be able to do the cheapest delivery in the entire county. That’s the aim. 
 
Are you looking for funding? 
We are, always. However, we have a bigger runway than <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a>. We can live for the next 18 months, so we’re not desperate. We want to wait for the next 2 months, and raise some money on our own terms. Maybe around $30-50 million.

Jugnoo Founder-CEO Samar Singla: Will
burn cash as long as Ola and Uber don’t stop

Following Ola and Uber, the on-demand auto aggregator <keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword> has also discontinued surge pricing in Delhi. This has come after the government gave orders to stop its practice amidst the ongoing second phase of the odd-even scheme. 
 
"Surge pricing is a standard practice across different industries and it is no different with app-based transport aggregators," says Samar Singla, founder and CEO Jugnoo. "However, we came to this decision following the general commotion ensued by the transport aggregator ecosystem," he says. 
 
Singla added how surcharging is based on the fundamental demand and supply concept of economics, and it’s purely up to consumers if they want to pay more for a service or not, in case of high demand. 
 
"This also helps in prioritizing travel, which means that only people who really need the service will use it by paying a higher price and the rest will find other ways of commuting," he adds. 
 
"Surcharge is part of any business model and permanently banning it will negatively impact these companies," says Singla. 
 
In support of the government’s odd-even scheme to tackle pollution and traffic, Jugnoo had added 1000 more autos to its existing fleet. 
 
<a href="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA0LzE0L2Q3L0lNR180ODE5LjEyOTlhLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/5bf2febc/41c/IMG_4819.jpg">Image source</a>

Jugnoo suspends surge pricing for the second phase of Odd-Even rule

One more day and Delhi will be back again with its traffic. With Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Ratan-Tata-says-supporting-infrastructure-is-needed-for-odd-even-scheme/articleshow/50532651.cms">odd-even formula</a> becoming a hit within 10 days of its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Will-ensure-full-implementation-of-odd-even-scheme-in-Delhi-Police-chief-BS-Bassi/articleshow/50396027.cms">launch</a>, daily commuters are dreading the long traffic again. Though it is yet to be determined if the policy made any significant changes in the pollution level of the state (the main cause of introducing the policy), it did decrease the traffic on road and made travel a hassle-free experience for most. And, not to forget the new initiatives and apps launched by companies and start-ups to come to the rescue of the people.
 

	With innovation, goodwill and technology, CM’s initiative was turned into a profit earning business for the<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Cab-aggregators-to-reap-the-benefits-of-Delhis-Odd-Even-car-rule/articleshow/50135698.cms"> carpooling and autorickshaw hailing aggregators</a>. Discounts, women only ride sharing options, increasing intra-city <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/OddEven-This-could-have-been-the-alternative-to-our-conventional-cars-but-isnt/articleshow/50454971.cms">ride facilities</a> and introduction of special packages led to remarkable growth in their traffic just within the first four days since the implementation of the rule.
 “We are giving very big discounts, 100% off for first ride and 20% off for 5 rides. We saw 4x growth in response within the first four days itself. We are enrolling more autos on a daily basis to meet the demand. Delhi has crazy demand for autorickshaws,” said Samar Singla, CEO and Founder, <keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword>, an autorickshaw aggregating app. 

	Surveys did show that most of the people preferred public transport more than carpooling options. However, carpooling companies saw a stark difference in their demand too.
 “We witnessed 30% jump in Delhi-NCR traffic. There was an incremental number of intra-city traffic. Infact, our app was listed second in Google playstore in the odd even rides list,” said Dinesh Golani, Co-founder, <keyword id="3206623" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ibibo-Ryde">Ibibo Ryde</keyword> (Director - Product/Marketing), a carpooling app. Apart from ride sharing and autorickshaw aggregators, self-drive car rental companies too benefitted from the policy. <keyword id="3018623" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Revv">Revv</keyword> launched a special package ‘Revv to Work’ to enable a customer to book a car for all the weekdays at a substantially lower price than the normal days cost. “We are witnessing anecdotal evidence of the <keyword id="3164660" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Odd-Even-Rule">odd even rule</keyword> creating a demand in itself,” said Anupam Agarwal, Co-founder &amp; CEO, Revv. 

	This odd-even rule sure did wonders to their business. As it nears its end, the companies wait with bated breath while it is still <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Delhi-HC-Limit-odd-even-rule-to-a-week-people-facing-inconvenience/articleshow/50465135.cms">debated if it is to be continued.</a>

	 
	 
	(Image credits: indiatimes)

Don’t know about decrease in
pollution, Odd-Even rule sure was a boon for these start-ups!

You’ll read ‘billion’, ‘unicorn’ and ‘valuation’ in the same sentence more than ever before today, especially when it comes to India’s major online transport businesses – <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a>, with a valuation of $5 billion has so far raised $1.2 billion from investors. Its biggest rival in India, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> is the world’s most valuable start-up at $62 billion. The latter announced in July last year it would invest $1 billion in India, and the former has strong investors. 
 India is an important market for <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> with its lucrative market potential, and <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> won’t want to lose on its home turf. While the duo is fighting for dominance of India’s cab business, this means a lot of cash burn. In a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Jugnoo-Founder-CEO-Samar-Singla-Willburn-cash-as-long-as-Ola-and-Uber-dont-stop/articleshow/52499393.cms">recent interview</a> with Business Insider, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> co-founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Samar+Singla&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Samar Singla</a> claimed he’ll do the same as long as Ola and Uber do. It’s refreshingly new to meet someone who won’t. 
 
Business Insider got on an international call with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=BlaBlaCar&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">BlaBlaCar</a> founder-CEO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Frederic+Mazzella&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Frederic Mazzella</a> to understand his frugal method of running a transport-based business. 
 
India as a market for <keyword id="2401770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BlaBlaCar">BlaBlaCar</keyword> 
We had an ambition of introducing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ride-sharing&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ride-sharing</a> in India. More than 1 million Indians have used <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=BlaBlaCar&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">BaBlaCar</a> in the first 12 months. That’s a real achievement as compared to the 22 other countries we’re in. We want to ensure our product meets the demands of the local people. That’s why we’ve introduced things like government ID proof requirement. 
 
How do you plan to monetize in India? 
We haven’t decided yet. We’ve tried several models in various markets. It can be any of those, or something else. 
 
The most important thing for a service like ours is to reach liquidity. We’re reaching that in India on certain routes. We need to push a bit more to reach real liquidity and then monetize. 
 
Do you have a deadline in mind for India? 
There are no deadlines. We have metrics that show our service is picking up. We’ll do everything we can to finance growth in India, like in every other market we’re in. We’ve never pulled the plug on a country. 
 
India investment plans 
We’ve raised $200 million last summer. We’re using this money very judiciously. 
 
Thanks to things like online marketing we know exactly how much we spend, and we’re very precise in our expenditure to ensure we don’t overspend on anything. 
 
Competition from Ola and Uber 
The reason you haven’t heard of coupons or discount vouchers from us is because we don’t buy growth. We have a community approach versus a pure marketing approach. 
 
When you look at the lifetime spend of a member vs. the cost of acquisition, it’s not sane to spend more than the lifetime value of a user. That’s not sustainable.

We
don’t buy growth: BlaBlaCar Founder-CEO Frederic Mazzella

Apart from Indian metropolitan cities, the Tier II and Tier III cities play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. While the metropolitan cities comprise of a very small proportion of total Indian population, the Tier II cities and small towns with almost 80% of the country’s population have come a long way. These cities generate over two-third of the country’s income, accounting for 90% of government revenues. As India heads toward urbanization, these are the cities that will be crucial in sustaining high rates of economic growth. 
 
However, in order to achieve economic growth momentum, these cities will need to function effectively – that their resources are used to maximize the cities’ contribution to national income. It is known to all that the efficiency of a city largely depends upon the effectiveness of its transport system and the efficacy with which people and goods are moved throughout the city. An underdeveloped transport system, hinders economic growth and development, and collectively may cause loss of competitiveness in both domestic as well as international market. 
 
However, despite such growth implications, the transport system in India is faced with several hindrances. Adding to the constraints of intra and intercity travel in India, is the suffering spurred by congestion, delay, pollution and accidents, despite its low vehicle ownership rate, number of vehicles per capita than their counterparts in developed countries. Major reasons contributing to these issues are the prevailing imbalance in modal splits along with inadequate transport infrastructure and it sub-optimal use. 
 The <keyword id="85028" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-transport">public transport</keyword> system in our country needs to evolve, as cities have not been able to keep pace with the rapid and substantial increase in demand for it. In an autonomous country like India, cities cannot afford to cater only to private vehicles and therefore needs a general recognition that policy should be designed in such a way that reduces the need to travel by personalized modes and boosts public transport. Public transport system needs a lot of renovation if it is assigned a significant role in the city life. Measures need to be taken to enhance the quality as well as quantity of public transport services. 
 
In the recent years, Indians have seen the emergence of various auto and cab aggregators to aid the public transport ecosystem in the country. Auto-rickshaws in India being the most pervasive form of local transport, there are around 50 lakh auto-rickshaws, with 3 crore daily transactions, mostly done through cash payments. 
 
While there are few taking digital payments, the numbers are negligible. With this at the background, many simply assumed that in the wake of demonetization, such local transport system in India will apparently experience a dip, more so, because it is impossible to change customer behavior overnight, especially when transaction sizes involved are so small. Additionally, some opposing the demonetization also argued that it also adds to the expense of the local autos drivers, as it involves hardware costs. 
 
However, it would be wrong to say that demonetization has only unleashed sufferings to the travel ecosystem and refuting such estimates are various facts. One of the world’s largest taxi aggregator that largely operates in cashless model, in various other countries, when ventured into India started off with credit cards. In its initial days, it experienced a tough time competing with the existing local cab aggregators accepting cash. 
 
Therefore, in order to counter such constraints, it opened up not only to cash, but also integrated e-wallets, pushing horizons for its customers. In return, it witnessed the evolution of customer behavior, which gradually started changing from cash to digital payments. Thriving on such contemporary trends, the ecosystem also witnessed the emergence of tech driven, on-demand auto-rickshaw aggregators such as ours. The fact that one of the biggest investors in <keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword> was Paytm; it gave them access to the 3 crore auto ride transactions. This integration inspired many auto-drivers to unravel the new era of technology and rise above the unbanked segment and join the banked segment by accepting digital payments. However, convincing them and bringing in this revolution was not an easy task. Furthermore, despite the convenience and opportunities provided by cashless travel, number of wallet based transactions varied between 15 – 20%. 
 
However, following the revolution of demonetization, this number has almost doubled to 40% and we are continuously working towards scaling it higher. Reeling through Modi government’s whiplash of demonetization, e-wallets started voraciously promoting the use of e-wallets and invested a significant amount of money to usher in the era of cashless economy. Treading on similar line-of-thoughts, at Jugnoo we celebrated No change November, promoting cashless transactions, based on the plethora of convenience it offers. 
 
Furthering the cause, and aligning itself to the Government of India’s vision of making India a cashless economy, Jugnoo also recently announced the launch of Jugnoo Pay. It is a UPI enabled payment solution that allows merchants to request and consumers to approve payments directly using their respective bank accounts with their Mobile number as an identifier. 
 
While the initial days of demonetization have been tough, drawing resistance from drivers in taking payments digitally, we believe this has long term benefits and welcome this move. With every passing day, as liquidity slowly vaporizes from the economy, the situation has started showing improvement and is evolving for better. 
 
(The article is authored by Samar Singla, CEO&amp; Founder, Jugnoo)

Demonetisation is elevating cashless travel in Tier-2 cities. Here’s how

Indian Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley will be in the lime light on February 29, 2016, as he will present his budget speech in front of the whole nation. While the demand of the hour is to design a strong plan that aids meeting the fiscal goals, what adds to the curiosity of people is the tactics he would adopt to generate resources to fund the additional expenses related to the seventh pay commission hikes along with One Rank One Pension scheme (OROP). Furthermore, market leaders from every sector would have their keen eyes on him, to fathom, if key priorities and investments of the government will benefit them. 
	 
	Corresponding to the introduction of several economic programmes one after the other by the Indian Government, enterprises and SMEs thriving on technology have great expectations from the Union Budget 2016-17. 
	 
	Being a part of the Startup ecosystem, the foremost of all my expectations would be to see some relaxation in startup taxation. Taking cues from the 90s when IT was on the rise, a tax respite for a period of three years would aid India to become the startup capital of the world. As an on demand services provider to our customers through technology, I expect a more startup responsive and steady taxation system. The Union Budget 2016 should be able to back Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Start-up India, Standup India’ initiatives by introducing tax incentives for enterprises founded in the last 5 years. 
	 
	The current government’s focus in the Indian startup ecosystem is very positive and the union budget 2016 must encourage investment in the Indian startup space. We also need a better definition for online aggregators and their taxation norms in every vertical as India houses over 1000 online aggregators across various verticals. The government had initiated the idea of defining online marketplace recently but not much progress has been seen here till now. 
	 
	Shareholding premium from investment should not be considered as income and hence taxable. SEZ companies should be allowed to conduct domestic sales in Indian rupees rather than in foreign currency as per a recent change that came like a jolt. In a nutshell, I expect the entire startup ecosystem should be free of Red-Tapery, easing down the process of doing business and creating the ground for ‘Innovation’. 
	 Furthermore, considering the enthusiasm about the much talked about ‘<keyword id="1929810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-India">Digital India</keyword>’ campaign, the budget this year should also focus on digital literacy to ensure the benefits of digitization is reaped by maximum number of individuals in the country. This will also empower citizens and enable start-ups and large organisations to experience digital transformation. Additionally, for the campaign to be successful, improved connectivity and access to technology supported by radical government process re-engineering needs its share in the Union Budget this year. Budget 2015 had its firm fingers on the IT companies apart from being rational and realistic. I think the budget this year should continue with its stand. As a matter of fact, Digital India, <keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword>, Standup India and Skill India requires strong budgetary support for the creation of a technological infrastructure to nurture such campaigns. In addition to that, schemes for IT based students, animation and gaming along with the Innovation Promotion Platform to foster a culture of innovation, research and development should be implemented this year as that would positively impact the Indian IT ecosystem. 
	 
	This year’s budget should aggressively promote R&amp;D benefits so that the organisations are encouraged to innovate and come up with newer technologies. Investment allowances for IT adoption must also be made to promote India as a premiere destination for both hardware and software development. 
	 
	Moreover, talking about the necessary infrastructure, the budget should definitely focus on ‘Smart Cities’. The year 2015 witnessed the listing of 98 smart cities across India and ensued by that the year 2016 looks prospective for the IT sector, categorically for the IoT players. A lot has been spoken about smart cities in the past two years and this year is the time to realize them. Smart cities – the fine amalgamation of technology, environment, governance and people, should be a predominant piece in the union budget pie. 
	 
	The country expects announcement of a vivid, descriptive roadmap and implementation plan for the humongous task of transforming the cities to a smarter phase, with select few cities embracing new technologies and people friendly applications. Real-time apps like ‘smart metering, smart road &amp; rail transport management, smart metro, smart water &amp; waste management, smart lighting and traffic control’ etc. can be initiated in those chosen cities, which could serve as blueprints for implementing future projects among the rest, in the years to come. 
	 
	This article has been authored by Samar Singla, CEO and founder of auto rickshaw aggregator <keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword>.

Budget 2016: #Startup Jugnoo has some serious suggestions for the Modi Govt

Much like the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>-<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Amazon&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Amazon</a> tussle in India’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> space, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a>-<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> battle in the online cab aggregation sector is also heating up. 
 
Looking to dominate India’s $9 billion industry, both taxi-hailing apps are promising hundreds of millions in new investment, and are willing to go that extra mile to offer Indians a ride, and more. The battle for the Indian market has even been dragged from the streets to the Court. 
 
Here are a few grounds where <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> locked horns, just to get a bigger piece of the Indian pie: 
 
Raw Money Power: 
Looking at the lack of adequate public transport in Indian cities, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> have together promised an hefty investment of over $2.25 billion in India. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> reportedly plans to pump over $500 million by June in India. This is over and above the $1 billion already committed over the past nine months. That is some serious money. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> hasn’t been left wanting either. It has promised to add another 2,000 cars to its existing fleet of 26,000 in the nation’s capital. It is backed by the likes of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=SoftBank&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">SoftBank</a>, and some of the most cash-rich VCs in the world. 
 
WiFi in Autos? 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> both began offering in-car WiFi last year. 
 
However, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> has been pulling out all its stock to go up against <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>. The company plans to launch WiFi services in the budget cab segment, and even its auto-rickshaws. 
 
Some wonder how that's humanly possible at the current cost. 
 
Legal Battles: 
Interestingly, both taxi aggregators have been in legal wrangles. 
 
In October 2015, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> filed a legal petition, accusing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> of flouting a Supreme Court order demanding app-based taxis in New Delhi switch from running on diesel to using CNG (compressed natural gas). 
 
A few months on, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> recently sued <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> for allegedly creating 93,000 fake <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> accounts, and tampering its businesses. The company has been seeking around $7.4 million in damages. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> claims <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> employees used bogus accounts to book and cancel a whopping 400,000 rides over the last six months. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> allegedly had to pay high cancellation charges to drivers due to this. It claims around 20,000 drivers quit the platform in frustration. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> officials 'categorically deny’ <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>'s allegations of fraud. Senior officials Anand Subramanian and Rahul Maroli told Business Insider they 'stand by' their statement. 
 
Accusations: Both <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> have been accused of wrong-doing. 
 
Recently, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Paytm&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Paytm</a>-backed online transportation app <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> alleged Ola has adopted unethical practices against it. In a blog post, the company claims Ola employees made fake bookings, and tried to hamper its operations. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> CEO Samar Singla has said his team saw a sudden surge in bookings and cancelations. According to him, around 20,000 cancelations were made through 800 accounts over a 10-day period earlier this month. In December, the auto-rickshaw aggregator had accused Ola of poaching employees and driver database in Chandigarh. 
 
Uber has made similar claims against Ola. Ola spokesperson <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Subramanian&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand Subramanian</a> maintains this to be Uber’s way of ‘payback’ for the legal petition Ola filed, accusing Uber of flouting a Supreme Court order. 
 
Interestingly, Uber’s rivals <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Lyft&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Lyft</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Gett&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Gett</a> had in 2014 complained against the aggregator of making false bookings, and recruiting Lyft and Gett driver partners for its own service. 
 
Experiments gone wrong: 
In an attempt to find new battlegrounds, Ola and Uber both launched their bike-taxi services in India’s Bengaluru on the very same day. 
 It seems both knew of each other’s plans and neither wanted to be left behind. However, neither was fully ready. Several users claimed not a single <keyword id="3149752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="bike-taxi">bike taxi</keyword> was visible. 
 
Both were offering extremely competitive rates. Ola has a per km rate of Rs 2, and a minimum fare of Rs 30. Uber has a per km rate of Rs 3 and a minimum fare of Rs 15. 
 
However, Ola was forced to roll back its service a few days later after the Karnataka state government said that India’s Motor Vehicle Act doesn’t have a provision for two wheelers to be used as taxis. Simply put, the bike taxi services were illegal. 
 
When asked about the same, Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka refused to comment on the issue. 
 
However, Uber bike taxis continue to ply on Bengaluru’s (earlier Bangalore) roads. 
 
This isn’t the first time this has happened. As rival Uber was turning up the heat, Ola started experimenting with hyper-local food and grocery delivery. 
 
It was later forced to shut these and focus on serving its core business. Although, it went on an overdrive, introducing new categories like Micro, Prime, a shuttle bus service and carpooling in a very short span. 
 
Regulatory hassles: 
While Uber has been facing regulatory hassles worldwide, and has the muscle to lobby for friendlier policies, Ola is still pretty new to such complications in business. 
 
Recently, Indian state Karnataka stood firm on not allowing surge pricing for app-based ride hailing services such as Ola and Uber. In the state, online taxi aggregators operate as ride-hailing service under a license obtained under the Radio Taxi Scheme, 1988. 
 
The policy says the charged fare cannot be higher than the fare fixed by the government. That means transport apps have to charge within a band where the upper limit is capped. Ola COO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Pranay+Jivrajka&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Pranay Jivrajka</a> told BI the company's 'working together' with the state government to find a feasible solution. 
 
Way back in August, in a major setback to Ola Cabs, the Delhi High Court dismissed its plea challenging a single-judge order upholding Delhi government's ban on such taxi services. 
 
While Ola argued that non-app based taxi organizations also come under the Radio Taxi Scheme, and that Ola doesn’t own these vehicles anyway, the Delhi government had said the All India Tourist Permit (AITP) vehicles that operate under Ola brand are meant for tourist destinations and not point-to-point service in city. 
 
Online taxi aggregators were finally legalized. 
 
Chest Thumping 
Ola and Uber have both thrown around numbers that hardly make sense if put together. 
 
In a recent interview, Ola’s Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Categories Raghuvesh Sarup said, "In three weeks, we have put up a category (Ola Micro) which is already 50% of all of Uber's daily bookings in the country. The rate at which Micro is growing, it will be larger than their entire brand within a month." 
 
On the other hand, Eric Alexander, President of Uber's Asia business, in an interview said his company was on the verge of overtaking Ola in India. "In January last year, we were at five per cent market share. Now, we are right at the edge of 50 per cent. Within next 30 days, we would beat them (Ola). We will surpass them very, very shortly." 
 
The statistics are even more confusing. Ola claims it holds 75% of the Indian app-based taxi-hailing market, with over 350,000 driver partners on its platform across the country, while Uber claims otherwise. 
 
As the cut-throat fight between Uber and Ola continues, some say it’s reminiscent of Uber’s tussle with Lyft in the U.S. The two San Francisco-based rivals were constantly undercutting each other’s tariffs, poaching each other’s drivers and duplicating services. 
 
Let’s just say its the same war, but with some Indian masala.

The Ola-Uber rivalry in India – when
competition became ridiculous

Sumit Chhazed, Co-Founder, CredR 
 
"The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/StartupIndiaStartups-and-investors-are-smiling-their-way-out-of-Vigyan-Bhawan/articleshow/50606389.cms">startup plan</a> is quite a promising one and we are happy with few initiatives proposed by the government such as tax exemption for 3 years, no inspection for compliance under labour law and starting start- up in 1 day via mobile app. Also the government acknowledges failures to be part of building great start - ups and promises 90 days exit plan, which is well received by the start - up community. Efforts to seed entrepreneurial culture and supporting it through incubation set ups in universities should really propel product innovation. 
 
Government is looking to accentuate the Make in India and Make for India efforts. Plans to create 1000cr fund over next 4 yrs with incentive for tax capital gains to investors would really boost start - up risk appetite in the whole ecosystem. This is indeed a wonderful move from the government and we hope to see these initiatives executed in the near timeframe." 
 
Samar Singla, CEO and founder, Jugnoo 
 
Immense potential for entrepreneurship in India can be forseen with this campaign. By making the taxation and compliance norms easier, the government has taken some very positive steps in this direction. 
 
Raghav Chandra, Co founder, Urbanclap, 
 
This initiative of PM Modi is the right step in making the environment friendlier for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/StartupIndia-Standup-India-Softbanks-Masayoshi-Son-ishaving-a-roaring-love-affair-in-India-and-hes-in-no-hurry-to-move-on/articleshow/50601754.cms">entrepreneurs</a> and thus encouraging them to start up. We will wait for the fine print to understand exactly what the next steps will be. However, I can only say that outcome will be in the positive direction and we are very excited! 
 
Krispian Lawrence, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Ducere Technologies – Makers of the world’s first haptic footwear Lechal 
 
The government's initiative to fast track start-ups patent applications is a very beneficial move to encourage start-ups. In addition, 80% rebate on patent filing and prosecution deals will allow start-ups to file and create intellectual properties which in the long run will end up being additional sources of revenue. This will spur product innovations in the country and allow Indian product companies to compete globally. Other encouraging aspects of the plan include self certification on labour and environment for all Start-Ups to be up in three years. 
 
Start-ups face a lot of challenges when setting up a business and if the government can ease smaller issues; it will help us to focus on scaling up the business. 
 
Shailesh Jain Co-founder, Mirraw.com 
 
It is delightful to know that our Prime Minister has taken into account small and medium size Start-ups that are not funded by huge investments. Specially, the tax benefits policy and ease on patent fee will extensively support a bootstrapped company like us where single money counts. India is a breeding ground for innovation and this intiative will give <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Startup-IndiaOla-Cabs-Bhavish-Aggarwal-is-conscious-thatsecurity-is-a-concern-more-measures-need-to-be-taken/articleshow/50602554.cms">opportunitie</a>s to many young minds to explore unique ideas. 
 
Anupam Tulsyan co-founder and managing director, Peachmode.com 
 
"We are going to witness a revolution in Start-up culture, with our country's PM validating the governing rules. Elimination of regulatory burden, faster certification and easy exit policy will encourage many youngsters to join the wagon. Tax redemption for 3 years is an important move by our Government that will help the new entrants to scale their business without VC's money. These tax redemptions will allow a bootstrapped company like us to be self-reliant and make profitable in the long run We have high hopes with Startup Indiamovement and sincerely believe that it will lead to many job creation in future. " 
 
Shaifali Agarwal Holani, founder and CEO, EasyFix 
 
What an initiative and a great day for India. Most populated India has sharpest brains of all times and this initiative will give a platform to many enthusiastic but under confident talents to come out of their ordeal. Encouraging privatisation will speed the pace at which India is developing and we will become a developed country soon. 
 
For us, EasyFix is a labour development &amp; construction focussed company, PM Modi said "he is trying to foster innovation and incubation" and our startup is looking forward to collaborating with Modi Govt for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-Practo-Foundersays-Modi-govt-should-do-away-with-regulatory-hurdles-in-the-healthcare-sector/articleshow/50604175.cms">skill development</a> and labour development initiatives. We want to be able to contribute to the society &amp; transform the unorganised labour market by doing things right, and that is by better execution of skill development programs. 
 
Swati Gupta, CEO and Founder, Industrybuying.com 
 
Patent fee reduction of 80% will be huge for IP based startups who can not only protect their intellectual property , but patents once registered add to tangible valuation increase" 
 
"No inspections for 3 years will very much reduce the regulatory burden related to VAT set up in new states, warehouse procedures , new factory set ups and much more physical infrastructure related start ups. 
 
Puja Bansal, Founder &amp; Director, Myheera.com 
 
Listening to action plan today I m most exited about the tax exemptions which will release the maximum burden on a startup like us. Self certification compliance in which for three years you are not disturbed from the govt end and you are at ease of doing your best to perform and more focused on the idea and its implementation. Today a start up can register themselves in one day which truly will show more minds and ideas coming quickly and getting jumpstarted. The fund of 10,000 cr which has been created to boost the startups will bring so much confidence as this is coming from our own country. 
 
Incubation centers getting promoted along with pre incubation centers will surely again prevent many failures in startups. Now when we see the entire ecosystem is contributing to 'Make in India' the sentiments of manystartups will change with much more deliverables and may more opening and changing the world. India is full of talents and now when our govt has finally joined hands we will see it as a big game changer with entrepreneurs emerging from every corner of the country. Faster exits were again a breather for many startup who again feel morally down with their failures. It will not be late when india will become world’s largest start up hub. 
 
Manish Kumar, co-founder and CEO of GREX 
 
“The Prime Minister’s announcement of the Startup Policy had quite a few important and measurable benefits that the startups can gain from. Most importantly, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister outlined a change in the principle approach of the government towards the economy – that the government wants to stay away from deciding and directing on what needs to be done. Instead, the Government looks at a policy of arm’s length enablement. This stand is a bold new change in the government policy and disruptive in its own right. 
 
Venture debt was miserably missing in the ecosystem. Startups have only been used to equity as a mode of capital. GREX is completely poised to launch venture debt in a few weeks’ time. This will help our partner Banks and NBFCs walk the road along with us more aggressively as credits become guaranteed. 
 
Another big thing that was anticipated but not announced is the addressal of concerns around notional valuation gains to investors over and above the fair market value. The incidence of such tax deductions today lie at startups’ end. The ecosystem will expect more details on this front. However, the Prime Minister’s assurance on this is welcome. Some other welcome steps in favor of companies and therefore their investors are retention of profits by the company for three years.” 
 
Kulpreet Kaur, Co-founder, Shop Pirate Coupons

	“The Indian government has kick-started ambitious Start-Up India mission that envisages technology business incubators and research parks. This was for the first time a government in India has launched an exclusive program for startups and the expectations were really high. The vision to set up 75 such startup support hubs in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIEPRs) will help India to develop local brands that can create global footprints. In the past India has been a market for technological innovation created overseas. The time has come now that the Indians create technological products at home that can be marketed globally. 
	We have the skills and need a platform. 
	Start-Up India is going to go a long way in filling up this void. I would say today is the day, that will take new and young entrepreneurs to a next level as the issue from incorporation to talent to infrastructure, all have been discussed. Its appreciable that the major concern of B2B business which is 10% TDS and 14.5 % ST, have been noticed and government saying they will rationalize the same. <o:p></o:p>

	Also as rightly said by Anisha Singh, it’s important that women entrepreneurs should be looked upon as entrepreneurs, not just women entrepreneurs. It’s our work that should get noticed not our gender. However the change is need of time and to give this equality government has to encourage women entrepreneur. It’s good to see that certain provisions are made where there are funds allocations for women entrepreneur. Ecosystem is getting changed and allowing more women to work, which is a highlight of Start-Up India Initiative. Apart from this startup sector becoming unregulated will be better for the sector. Instead of looking at Singapore, we will now have our ecosystem in India. Hoping the budget session will further revolutionize the startups in India. Now the only concern will be 'Sell it India" that is a challenge that needs to be addressed next.<o:p></o:p>

	Amit Ramani, founder and CEO, Awfis Space Solutions Pvt Ltd
Honourable PM Modi's action plan demonstrates a startup like thought process. It provides simple yet innovative policies that can catalyse a revolution to transform India as the most innovative country and major player in global GDP, a feat India enjoyed around 300 years back.

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