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<keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword>, which is India's largest mobility app, has started piloting Bike Taxis in Bengaluru after introducing bus services, thus strengthening its place in the mobility market. 
 
The bike taxis would run at an introductory fare of Rs 2/km and Re 1 per minute of trip time would be added to the bill. In a statement by Ola, the minimum fare is reported to be Rs 30. 
 
Pranay Jivrajka, Ola’s COO said, "We expect significant demand in the pilot phase and we will continue to scale this service up in the coming weeks to cover more areas in the city." 
 On the other hand, Ola’s prime rival <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> has also announced the experiment of offering Bike taxis in Bengaluru, but at a higher cost of Rs 3/km. The minimum fare in Uber bike taxi rides would be Rs 15. 
 
<a href="http://blog.olacabs.com/ola-bike-taxis-launched-in-bangalore/">Image source</a>

Ola hits at Uber with cheaper bike taxis in Bengaluru

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

Last week, Founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Indian ride sharing service Ola</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=bhavish+aggarwal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bhavish Aggarwal</a>, was quite vocal about his thoughts on pitching domestic companies and had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian Government to promote Indian companies more than the foreign ones. But, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> should not have much to worry about because of the technology it has been innovating since past three years. 
 
Ola has grown leaps and bounds riding on its tech-based solutions to help drivers as well as customer to assure a seamless riding experience. In an <keyword id="6370284" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Exclusive">exclusive</keyword> interview to Business Insider, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=pranay+&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka </a>said how Ola was using technology to cater to customers as well as the drivers. 
 “Technology has been at the heart of building mobility for India. We have to constantly innovate to cater to more customers, bring down cost price by bringing more efficiency; increase driver and consumer experience; and create some sort of loyalty and engagement in the customers. There has been a lot of <keyword id="94495" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Innovation">innovation</keyword> and we have to bridge the constraints of the present infrastructure and ensure we give a superior experience,” Jivrajka told Business Insider. 
 
Ola has been rolling out products to bring in more options in mobility in India. From Ola Share to Ola Play, the ride-hailing service is constantly working on creating an inclusive environment. 
 
“Ola came up with its Ola Share three years back to cater to ever increasing need. Thereafter, we expanded services to auto, bikes, shuttles, etc and made the most of technology on the same platform,” said Jivrajka. 
 
Ola is world’s first cab aggregator to provide in-car experience with auto connect wi-fi. This was the first thing in Ola innovation in-car experience. It introduced Ola Play, which focuses on entertainment. 
 
Meanwhile, as there is not much in mobility space in India, there is always a threat of increasing competition from the foreign companies. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>, which has vowed to increase its focus in India and rake in money, can pose a threat to Ola, which is number one in India, with its money might. 
 
However, industry experts do not feel so. Experts say Uber hasn’t innovated and has only adapted to the market needs. It brought smaller cars in India and UberShare that are not innovations but market understandings. 
 
This way, Ola has an edge as it can fall back on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=innovation&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">innovation</a>. 
 
“Ola Play is focussed on entertainment which has tremendous possibilities for developers to innovate and build on that. We are connecting the online world with the offline one. You will know who the customer is, the behaviour patterns, where is the customer going, what are the likings, etc. We can actually put things in the right context that are relevant for the user. That is a powerful platform that we will see flourishing in next quarters,” said Jivrajka. 
 
“Ola Play involves some amount of configuration changes and installations in the car. We are further ramping it up, for now we have it in three cities-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru as we have few cars in Prime category and the experience is magical. We are working in integrating partners and building more features at some point of time. Apple is already live; we will have best partners in the world for Ola Play. Apple Music, Sony entertainment, etc,” he added. 
 
Talking about tech investments, Jivrajka said more than 1000 people work in tech engineering, product and data enhancement, who are working to build solutions. 
 
“Tech has a significant play in being where we are. And all these innovations have helped us in leading market. We have been doing this since 5-6 years. Tech is going to drive consumer experience,” said Jivrajka.

Exclusive: Ola COO Pranay Jivrajka says technology is the ace up its sleeves

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

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