Uber will consider all modes of transport, says Pradeep Parameswaran

Flying cars, jet boats and electric vehicles. If Uber's new India and South Asia head Pradeep Parameswaran could, then he would bring all to India tomorrow. Having been with the company for little over a year and a half, Parameswaran hopes to smoothen regulatory hassles for the company in India and ensure that users are not left moving in circles thanks to faulty navigation. In a conversation with Karan Choudhury, he makes it clear that a Motor Vehicles Act is good enough for his sector, and cab aggregation does not need a separate policy.

Gujarat is planning to put a cap on the number of app-based cabs on road. Delhi wants to impose heavy penalties for trip cancellations. Each day, new regulations come up in different states. Do you think operating in India has become more difficult? 

No. Transportation has always been like that everywhere. It is just that we are new to it as we are a young company. It also seems like we are in the public eye more.

Transportation is a state subject, which means one has to engage with every state. They have a unique set of challenges, and everyone is trying to figure out the right way. But the national narrative, the draft Motor Vehicles Act, some of the NITI Aayog papers that have come out, there are two things that have been unequivocally mentioned - future of transport is ‘shared’, second is the reduced dependence on petrol and diesel, which means electric vehicles, ethanol, and other modes of transport. 

Does your sector really need a separate cab aggregation policy?

I think the Motors Vehicles Act, the way it has been designed and the parameters laid out covers aggregation. It spells out the do's and don'ts many of those things are quite constructive. I do not think a separate cab aggregation policy is needed. 

There are just a handful of states that have given you a nod for bike taxies. Is it a viable vertical for you to run on your platform? 

It is. See technology is almost always ahead of policies, it is new as a category. Some states have taken the lead and some would take time to catch up. The service is up and running in a number of cities and it would happen at its natural pace. The good thing about India is if the riders and users like it, policymakers will enable it. Two-wheelers in India have a tremendous applicability as a use case for short distances. 

Is Uber planning to run a ferry service on India's waterways? Are you having talks with government agencies such as Inland Waterways Authority of India for running a pilot? 

Nothing is in the works at the moment, but as a concept of what we talk as aggregation, all modes of transport would be considered. If you just apply the principle of aggregation, I think it has value across multiple modes of transport. 

So, in India, will Uber be present on land, air (Uber Elevate) as well as water?

It is hard to answer it at the moment. Elevate is a technology that is being actively developed. Technology is hard to predict but the broad direction is to go there. Waterways transportation has a unique set of challenges and issues that need to be solved. 

Uber at present is in 31 cities, your competition is in 100-plus cities. 

Does a large presence matter to achieve leadership position?

For us, winning is about users and drivers liking us more than any other option in the market. 

We have made progress on that front and are in a position of great strength. I am thrilled about our position in the market across all cities we operate in. So far, we have market leadership with all that.  

Fuel prices are rising and are at an all-time high, while you are running certain initiatives for your drivers. How would you ensure that their daily income would not go down? 

We track earnings and have data that shows that for us driver earnings have remained stable for the past many months. We have adopted a strategy to ensure that they are able to cover the fuel price hike. 

We continue to innovate to put more money in their pocket by new modes, new routes, and expansion opportunities. 

You have been talking about electric vehicles, but how viable is the whole concept? Your pilot with Mahindra Electric has been on the back burner for a while.

 We are committed to the pilot and we would be doing that. There are lessons learnt not just from what others have done but we are having active conversations with the players who are shaping the EV play, which include car manufacturers, battery companies, charging infrastructure providers, and policy makers. 

We will develop as quickly as rest of the world develops. As soon as we will have a viable option in the market we will run EVs.