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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

The super convenient days of travel for Delhi citizens are going through a major crisis. A few drivers of <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and Uber are on strike as the app based cab aggregators have changed their strategy and decreased incentives of the drivers. Taking advantage of the hullabaloo, auto rickshaw aggregator <keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword> has forayed in the business of cab aggregation. 
 Jugnoo has started its cab operations in <keyword id="6356789" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gurugram">Gurugram</keyword> as a pilot and aims to expand throughout Delhi NCR soon. The auto rickshaw aggregator has already expanded its business in hyper local segments like food and grocery. . 
 
"We at Jugnoo saw a vaccum in the taxi aggregation business. We analysed the issues faced by taxi drivers off late and have come up with a strategy to provide taxi services at prices where drivers do not work at artificially lower rates than their costs. It's a capitalist world where we have to manage expectations of both the customers and drivers together. At the moment, the existing players have not been able to balance this and therefore, we intend to fill in the gaps," Chinmay Agarwal, Co-founder and COO, of Jugnoo told the press. 
The Chandigarh headquartered company was looking for an apt opportunity to enter the cab market. However the fares of Jugnoo would be higher than Ola and Uber. 
 SoCoMo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates Jugnoo, had raised $10 million in Series B funding from <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> (One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd) recently.

Can't find a cab on Ola and Uber these days? Try Jugnoo Cab then

<keyword id="2885078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jugnoo">Jugnoo</keyword> is India’s most popular <keyword id="32870" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Auto">auto</keyword> rickshaw aggregator <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Ed-tech-startup-focuses-on-reaching-you-on-mobile-desktop-and-television/articleshow/54324859.cms">startup</a> covering 40 cities and around 40,000 rides a day, according to the company. 
 Business Insider caught up with Isha Singla, Co-founder, Jugnoo to understand the company’s vision on utilizing their auto rickshaw drivers for <keyword id="6355447" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="delivery">delivery</keyword> of fruits and vegetables, fresh meals and even products! 
 
Isha had this to say-‘Jugnoo wants to be a hyper-local business. Whether it is delivery of people, products, food or groceries, we wish to utilize our platform to the maximum.’ And it would seem so. With the company launching two delivery services namely ‘<keyword id="218256" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dodo">Dodo</keyword>’ and ‘<keyword id="3365623" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fatafat">Fatafat</keyword>’ in Chandigarh, the company is rapidly using its vast auto rickshaw network to the fullest. 
 
So what is ‘Dodo’? Dodo is not the extinct bird here, but the B2B delivery service, which lets local vendors use Jugnoo for delivery for a nominal per-delivery cost. This kind of service helps Mom &amp; pop shops and small vendors who cannot afford to keep a separate delivery vertical. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Delivery-technology-from-drones-to-bots-what-will-deliver-your-e-commerce-packages-in-the-future/articleshow/54044952.cms">ALSO READ: From drones to bots- What will deliver your future?</a> 
 
Known brands like Ferns &amp; petals are also using this service to deliver fresh flowers in select cities. 
 
‘Fatafat is the fruits &amp; vegetables vertical where the company directly sources from the farmer or the wholesale market to keep costs minimal and quality checked’ explains Isha. ‘We have divided this vertical into two categories –Organic &amp; Normal to suit the needs of the metropolitan consumer.’ 
 
In Fatafat, they have also included meal deliveries from small businesses. Isha said that the company wants to focus on the average Indians- ‘An average Indian takes an auto every day instead of a cab. He would want to get an affordable service for food delivery where a ‘thali’ costs him Rs. 50 while giving him different options.’ The ‘ready to eat’ daily-changing menu includes premium sandwiches, meal combos, and exclusive desserts, 
among others without any minimum order price which is great for the working bachelors. 
 
In the future, Isha wants <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Jugnoo-Founder-CEO-Samar-Singla-Willburn-cash-as-long-as-Ola-and-Uber-dont-stop/articleshow/52499393.cms">Jugnoo</a> to deliver anything and everything for you. If you’ve forgotten something important someplace, you can ask Jugnoo to pick it up for you, in the future. 
 
Thriving on its well-established network of auto-rickshaws and engaging the workforce in the logistics of the new business, the orders will be delivered by Jugnoo drivers, during their free time. 
 
So what incentive does the auto-driver get? Isha explains, ‘They earn extra income due to more rides/ access to demand. The company takes 10% commission from them for each ride.’ 
So now don’t be surprised to find your auto-driver coming over to deliver you your next order!

Is your next delivery boy also an autowallah? It's because of Jugnoo.

<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

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

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

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=%E2%80%8BIxigo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ixigo</a> has announced a ‘1-Tap Cab Booking’ system on its platform where you can hail a cab with a single tap on a button on your android home screen, and it works without any internet or GPS connection. This means one can book the app in places without a stable internet connection, such as airports, railway stations, bus stations and even while the user is en-route to his destination. 
 
The company uses a combination of intelligence about the user’s location through existing PNR confirmations on a user’s phone and SMSes for when the internet connection doesn’t work to seamlessly book a cab for the user. The app also prompts the users prior to their journey to the station or airport and also when they have just landed or are about to reach their destination. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=%E2%80%8BIxigo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ixigo</a> cabs is a meta-aggregator of cabs, autos and ground transportation services, allowing users to search &amp; book from multiple app-based cab providers such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=TaxiForSure&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">TaxiForSure</a>, EasyCabs, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jugnoo&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jugnoo</a> etc. directly from within its own app.

Ixigo will now let you book a cab without Internet or GPS

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

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

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!

If you're among the ones who think too many apps will lead to too much confusion and a smart phone with sloth speed, fret not. You can now do a lot more with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook+Messenger&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook Messenger</a>.

	Last month, Facebook introduced its ChatBot feature. This lets consumers avail services that were once limited to just an app. With the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook+Messenger&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook Messenger</a> Chatbot, a consumer can use the app for stuff beyond chatting. 
	 
	Here are a few things you can now use <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook+Messenger&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook Messenger</a> for: 
	 
	1. Book an Uber/Auto – 
	Who would have thought of booking a cab or auto via Facebook! Cab-hailing app <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a> has introduced its services on chatbot where the consumer can get a cab on <keyword id="3357688" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook-Messenger-Chatbot">Facebook messenger chatbot</keyword>. Auto aggregator Jugnoo will also allow the consumers to book an auto ride on the messenger. 
	 
	2. Speak to your doctor – 
	Healthcare communication and delivery platform <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Lybrate&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Lybrate</a> has launched it’s bot. This will allow consumers to consult their doctor on the chatbot. It will also let them book an appointment and avail other services. 
	 
	3. Manage daily work – 
	MagicX has announced its services on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook+Messenger+Chatbot&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook Messenger Chatbot</a>. This will facilitate people's lives on a day to day basis. 
	 
	Chatbots are expected to solve the issue of clogged smartphones, especially in a country like India where most of the upcoming users are likely to buy budget smartphones with limited memory.

	<a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7rhK38fzWi0/maxresdefault.jpg">Image source</a>

3 cool new things you can do with Facebook Messenger

As 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> rivalry reaches newer heights with <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> slashing fares by up to 22% in 10 non-metros, <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> has taken the battle off the cities into smaller towns by launching autos into 12 new local markets. 
 
The online cab aggregator now has over 100,000 autos across 24 Indian cities, and claims to targeting two million rides from the auto-rickshaw category alone by the end of 2017. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> also claims to see 30 million daily rides in the 24 cities, fulfilled by a solid three million auto-rickshaws. 
 
While the jostle to stay ahead continues, Business Insider sat down with Nitesh Prakash, Senior Director of Operations at <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=Anand+Subramanian&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand Subramanian</a>, Senior Director of Marketing Communications to understand the dynamics of what’s going on in the company. 
 
Why have you been doggedly pushing the Auto segment? 
Nitesh: In India there are over 215 million auto rides daily. That’s a huge number that attracts us. I see a lot of value <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> can add to the immense supply that’s present. 
 
Anand: This is one segment where not many players have met with much success. That speaks volumes for what we have done differently, and how we’ve got it going across Tier I and Tier II cities. Each of these cities has over 20,000 odd auto rickshaws each. That’s a quarter of a million autos in the 12 new cities we’ve launched in. 
 
How much do autos contribute to Ola’s total business? 
Nitesh: I won’t be able to share exact numbers. 
 
What I can say is that the Auto business started over a year ago, and we think it can match up to the cab business, sooner than later. 
 
Anand: To give a sense of scale, of the 450,000 vehicles on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ola</a> today, over 100,000 are Auto rickshaws. We’re looking to cross 2 million auto rides a day be end of 2017. That’s just to put it in some perspective. 
 
How are you doing it differently than the Uber Auto? 
Anand: What set us apart for autos is the immense customization and emigration we’ve done for the segment. We know autos are not similar to what cabs are. They have very different customer use-cases and driver base. 
 
Each of these should be factored in. There can’t be a playbook template approach. 
 
Nitesh: It needs a lot of local understanding. We can’t replicate one city’s model anywhere else. We have training, development and support centres across every city we’re operating in. That way we’re more reachable. 
 
There’s apprehension that Auto tariffs will go up when Wi-Fi is introduced. 
Nitesh: It’s a little too early to talk about Wi-Fi on other categories. 
 
We have to give it far deeper thought. We have to think of autos in isolation. Nothing on those lines to discuss yet. 
 
Some say the Micro is cannibalizing into the Auto segment. What do the numbers say? 
Nitesh: I can’t comment on the numbers. 
 
A customer prefers an auto over Micro for a very short trip, say for going to the market. That’s due to the fare. We don’t think one can eat up the business of other. They should complement each other. The base fare of the Micro is Rs. 40, and that of an auto is Rs. 25. 
 
Anand: Rs. 25 in major cities, mind you. Smaller cities, it’s even lesser. For smaller cities it offers affordable commute on a daily basis and last mile connectivity. These cities don’t have that many cabs or Micros. 
 
Do you think you’re expanding too fast for someone who’s facing issues in several markets? 
Anand: We will expand at the rate the market wants us to. Our eyes are set on the mission to provide mobilizing to a billion people. 
 
If there is an end value to be created, we don’t think there is a reason to worry. When you are at a particular scale, the benefit of that is so immense that you can expand without hampering quality. 
 
There’s a genuine opportunity of reaching over 100-700 million people in tier II and tier II cities. 
 
Comparisons are being drawn between the current Ola-Uber-Jugnoo struggle and the Uber-Lyft-Gett rivalry in the US. Your comments. 
On <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Uber</a>’s allegations, we’ve shared an official statement. That’s what we stand by. In addition to that, we won’t have any comments whatsoever. 
 
We think we’re executing well, and executing fast. As respectable and law-abiding corporate citizens, we have immense respect for the law, and in so point of time do we do what is not right according to the law of the land. That’s pretty much it.

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