Well, it is certainly a lucrative thing to capture the lion’s share in the fragmented cab market in India, the biggest economy in Asia after China. The potential is enormous, and competition is not that fierce.
Undoubtedly, Ola has emerged as the key player in the market against the global player Uber. However, the latter has a global dominance, and with the impressive value of roughly 70 Billion USD (6 Billion as per the latest official figures to be precise), it is among the most valuable startups in India.
Both Ola and Uber have the backup of global investors (SoftBank Corp. for Ola and Didi Chuxing and GrabTaxi for Uber); the rivalry seems to take further exciting twists and turns in the coming years.
As both parties have investors with deep pockets, more and more money will be poured in by promoters. Experts say that there is no denial of the possibility of ‘dirty play’ to remain in the game.
Consumers are the big boss!
Whatever will be the result of this cutthroat battle, one entity is going to reap big benefits for sure i.e. the consumer. The situation will bring a blissful time to the drivers as well.
While Ola is still holding the fort by a wide margin, the close contestant Uber is presenting a big challenge by enhancing its presence in the key markets.
In a country like India where around 300 Million people use the Internet, and the number of cab aggregators is increasing manifold quarter after quarter (in the number of rides), it is quite obvious that both Ola and Uber put their utmost efforts to own the largest chunk of the market share (if not all).
Ola, the glorious story of a company of Indian Origin
The brainchild of two IIT pass-outs, this company, has done a remarkably impressive job in the novice niche of cab market in India. Ola extended its scope to several areas such as hourly packages, outstation trips or point-to-point drops. However, they realized that the most lucrative and effective area is point-to-point drops.
Ola is a smart company that understood the limitations of its rivals of that time (Meru or Mega). Ola realized that people are turning to the smart and efficient ways of booking a taxi using mobile apps. While the other companies continued the use of age-old methods of booking on the phone, Ola changed the rule of the game.
Uber, a giant leap after a timid start
Started in 2013 with the focus on the high-end car market, Uber was struggling to make its presence till 2015. It had captured hardly 5 percent market share by that time.
However, it changed track later and started offering low-end cars which were a large market segment. After a few setbacks due to technical and legal reasons, it didn’t look back. It made a commendable comeback by making an impressive presence in all cities, big and small.
While other competitors watch them from the fringes, both Ola and Uber seem to dominate the market share. There are benefits and shortcomings in both companies. They need to focus on improving the bottlenecks and enhancing the strengths.
