Rising number of complaints against cab aggregators

Predatory pricing petitions against Ola, Uber were filed from across cities

On-demand taxi aggregator companies are increasingly coming under the scanner of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). While the director-general at CCI is already investigating allegations of predatory pricing and abuse of dominant position against Ola in the Bengalaru market, more complaints have reached the Commission in the past few weeks against several operators across cities.

The earlier petition against Ola came some months ago from Chennai-based Fast Track Call Cab. Besides Ola, petitions have been filed against other prominent players including Uber, according to a source. The markets being probed are Delhi and Kolkata, apart from Bengaluru. Around four cases have come up since the end of August, the source added. The petitions have come from competitors including Meru, it is learnt. Ola, Meru and Uber are the three most prominent on-demand cab services across the country.

In all the instances, CCI will study whether the players named in the petitions are actually dominant players in a particular market, and if there has been an abuse of the dominant position through predatory pricing.

Neither Ola nor Uber replied to queries sent by Business Standard .

For some months now, Ola and Uber have been battling another legal tangle in Delhi national capital region (NCR). They have been directed by the Delhi government to use only compressed natural gas, or CNG, vehicles as diesel cars result in air pollution. US app-based company Uber has had a controversial run ever since it entered India in 2013. Apart from settling issues with the authorities on its payment system, the company was sued by a passenger who alleged she was raped by a driver engaged with the Uber platform.

Ola, which is run by ANI Technologies, is estimated to be the market leader with around 60 per cent of the total pie. The company has raised $700 million in several tranches from marquee international investors including SoftBank.

Ola added to its market share in March when it acquired TaxiForSure, which had 14 per cent of the market last year. While Meru, the oldest on-demand cab service in India, had a 16 per cent market share and Uber only five per cent as of November 2014 according to an industry presentation, the US platform might have gained some in the past few months through its aggressive pricing.

Uber, which is valued at $50 billion globally, has committed to investing $1 billion in the Indian market over nine months.

As for the Ola case, which is already being investigated by CCI, Fast Track Call Cab Pvt Ltd alleged contravention of various provisions under sections of the Competition Act, 2002. Fast Track had claimed it had suffered irreparable loss due to Ola’s aggressive pricing in the market.