Uber is finally coming around to working as per the Indian Govt

Days after the Indian government released new guidelines for all the cab aggregators plying anywhere in the country, Uber has come up with an acceptance to it.

Under the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Road Transport, ride-hailing companies must obtain licenses to operate, but are freed from being regulated as taxi companies for which it is mandatory to maintain a minimum fleet size and parking space, among other requirements, as per a WSJ report.

The Indian government, for the first time ever, has rolled out such guidelines to bring all the online taxi apps under one regulation. The move came after the Central Motor Vehicles Act and state transport authorities fall short of rules that could govern these businesses.

As per the recently issued guidelines, the sates would be directed on how they can draft regulations for city taxi schemes and aggregators. It also mandates the establishment of 24x7 call centre for grievance redressal. Uber, however, says that it has an instant response system in which the user gets a response within five minutes on an email complaint, reported The Economic Times.

The newly issued guidelines also asks the applicant to be a registered entity under the laws of India and that it cannot own or lease any vehicle, employ any driver or represent itself as a taxi service unless it gets registered as a taxi operator under the applicable law.

Ola, last month, said that it had set-up a separate, fully-owned subsidiary that will buy cars and lease them to drivers. The new business, however, is separate from Ola’s current aggregator model.

Uber, on the other hand, too is working on another model of leasing the vehicles, informed a source. However, no announcement has been made by the company so far.

"This is a big leap towards recognising sector-specific regulations for technology-based, ride-hailing services in India and we look forward to working with the various state governments to get licensed under this framework," said an Uber India spokesperson.

Uber, in a statement released yesterday said, "We welcome the advisory from the Ministry of Road Transport and we believe this is a major step towards positively impacting the ecosystem and its stakeholders, that technology platforms like ours have created. We will continue to work with the government, under the aegis of this progressive directive, offering our complete support and commitment towards building mobility for a billion people."

SoftBank-funded Ola has also welcomed the guidelines, saying that it is a progressive directive. Both Ola and Uber face bans in the national capital as their applications for licenses to operate have been rejected.