What is Bharat Taxi? The govt-backed cab app challenging Uber and Rapido

Delhi-NCR and Rajkot were the two cities chosen for the pilot project of the new brand in late November and early December 2025. It was later expanded to select cities, including Ahmedabad. “In three years, Bharat Taxi will be rolled out across the country, from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari and Dwarka to Kamakhya,” Shah said on Thursday.

When signing up, drivers can buy shares of the cooperative — a minimum of five shares is worth Rs 500. (Express photo by Devansh Mittal)

Two months since the pilot project started, some drivers onboarded on the platform complained of lower earnings but were hopeful that it would pick up.

Ashok in Delhi said he had a hard time finding bookings a week after he registered his Maruti Suzuki Eeco on the app. “I dropped a passenger from the railway station to the airport (a distance of 15 km) for around Rs 350, a trip for which I would have earned Rs 600 without the app,” he said, even as he remains hopeful that the number of bookings and earnings will go up.

Goswami, who registered his Hyundai Xcent sedan on the app, echoed Ashok. “… At the airport, the only customers so far are those who already used the app in Delhi… but I’m sure the number will increase gradually.”

“… We would much prefer using the government app rather than private aggregator companies that take commission from us,” added Goswami, who is part of a 300-member informal cab drivers’ group called ‘Rajkot e-cab Unity’.

Bharat Taxi is operated by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Ltd (STCL), a multi-state cooperative society. (Express photo by Devansh Mittal)

Building a presence

Bharat Taxi is operated by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Ltd (STCL), a multi-state cooperative society, in collaboration with National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), and supported by various entities, including Amul and NABARD. Representatives of these bodies form part of the interim board.

In January, the government sought “cooperation” from central and state government ministries, departments, public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies “to facilitate appropriate promotional support for Bharat Taxi within official premises and communication channels, without disrupting routine functioning,” a press release from January 14 noted.

“Departments have also been encouraged to sensitise officers and staff about the availability of Bharat Taxi as a cooperative mobility option and to share institutional feedback to aid service improvement prior to wider rollout,” as per the government.

Around 4 lakh drivers have joined Bharat Taxi platform; over 10,000 rides are being completed daily on the platform, the government said in a press release on Wednesday. The government is aiming to make it operational nationwide by 2029 and make it the largest ride-hailing app in the country.

To increase visibility, the app is predominantly marking its presence at some of the busiest footfall areas, including the airport, metro and railway stations.

A government official said at present, the app reports approximately 10,000 bookings a day across the country. (Express photo by Devansh Mittal)

At the Delhi airport, its pre-paid taxi booths have been taken over by Bharat Taxi. Shiv Shankar Shama, who manages one of the booths, estimated that Bharat Taxi is getting around 5,000 bookings every day, with the number of kaali-peeli taxis at the airport numbering around 3,000.

According to a STCL official, 6,000 drivers in Rajkot registered in a span of two months, with daily rides averaging about 100. The app is seeing growing adoption, with as many as 30,000 taxi and autorickshaw drivers in Ahmedabad in a span of a week after it launched on January 20.

Vivek Pandey, Chief Operating Officer of Bharat Taxi, said, “We get a lot of support since it is backed by the government… For instance, one of our promoters, Amul, has thousands of booths across the country, where we can market… or we can get our insurance through IFFCO Tokio.”

The cooperative model

When signing up, drivers can buy shares of the cooperative — a minimum of five shares is worth Rs 500. This will ensure drivers get dividends when the company becomes profitable, said Pandey.

“Currently, drivers have to pay a 30-40% commission to companies like Uber and Rapido. But Bharat Taxi is completely free to drivers for now. From February, drivers will have to pay a minimal subscription fee per day,” said Kamil Hussain, founder of Hindustani Berozgar Drivers Samaj.

Kishan Patani (42), among the 11-member Board of Directors of STCL, and who has been driving an auto rickshaw in the eastern part of Ahmedabad since 2014, pegged this subscription amount at “a minimum of Rs 30 per day from taxis and Rs 18 per day from auto rickshaws in the future”.

The app also promises to provide relief to customers who face dynamic and opaque pricing, especially during peak hours. “We don’t want to be the cheapest, but the fairest price in the market,” a government official said.

Some customer experiences, meanwhile, have been marred by teething troubles.

Anuroop Chauhan, who used the service from the Delhi airport, said, “The people managing the booth don’t know how to operate the software properly, which leads to queues. The prices have also gone up significantly: Earlier, I used to pay around Rs 300-400 for a ride to my home. Now, they are charging me Rs 600.”

A few drivers also flagged concerns such as the non-competitive pricing standards of the market as well as rising inflation.

Nazir Mahervani (45), a single taxi owner who drives a Maruti Suzuki DZire in Rajkot, said, “The existing taxi aggregators have not increased the fare rates in years. The rate has remained the same from when CNG was Rs 50, which now costs Rs 80. Insurance amounts have gone up, as have the price of the vehicles, tyres, oil and fuel, which is not factored in the rates drivers get paid. We hope in this new Bharat Taxi app, where we are part of the system, we can help set a fair fare rate that is reasonable for everyone.”

Pandey also asserted that they have devised their strategy to keep pricing fair, transparent and predictable. “Our pricing algorithms will also get better over time as we get more and more data through operations,” he said.