An overview
The market for cab aggregators in India primarily has two major names – Ola and Uber. Now the Mahindra Group is looking to foray into this space. The company is banking highly on the expectation that more people would start to use electric vehicles (EVs) in the years to come in India. Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the group, has stated that nowadays people have lesser options as far as personal transportation is concerned and this is highly applicable to the major cities.
Much of this, according to him, has to do with the levels of congestion in these cities. He expects that in future electric vehicles will be the preferred mode of transport for the ride aggregators even as the government comes down hard on diesel and petrol cars.
More on it…
He estimates that in the days ahead there would be a reduction as far as buying of private cars is concerned. This will specifically be applicable for segments such as the plain vanilla sedans. The chairman feels that these cars can now be equated to an endangered species. He also points out a number of problems that people have to deal with because they own cars.
This includes problems such as parking, maintenance, and insurance to name a few. This is the reason why, as per Mahindra, people will go for options such as sharing their cab services or hailing rides as such. He has stated that there would be a kind of sinking or leveling off as far as the personal commuting segment is concerned.
The customer segment is expected to witness some dramatic shift as well. He expects that in the years there would be lesser cars on streets.
What are the possibilities for Mahindra in the cab aggregator space?
At present Ola and Uber are virtually fighting for the top spots at the Indian market for cab aggregators.
This is the reason why Mahindra is looking at different kinds of possibilities and scenarios to make things work for it. It is looking to introduce its own app and also establish partnerships. Simultaneously it is aiming to get hold of niche markets in the segment as well.
Mahindra has said that the organization could introduce apps that enable people to share rides on Thar – an SUV (sports utility vehicle) created by Mahindra. He feels that the niche applications will do well and as such they will not be losing out on the money.
Wrapping up
It was during September 2016 that the group had penned a deal with Ola whereby it was supposed to provide a fleet of 40,000 cars in a span of two years. At that time, Bhavish Aggarwal, one of the founders and the CEO (chief executive officer) of Ola, had stated that the mobility needs of India are much different from most other markets of the world. He too expected that sharing of cars would be preferable than owning cars to most people in the days to come. He did state that more people would buy cars in the future but as far as needs are concerned ride sharing and future mobility would rule the future.
