CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

While some startups in India's mobility space are riding the EV wave, others are upending the business models of established companies.

- By Karan Dhar

A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME event can disrupt an entire industry. Henry Ford introducing the Model-T did that to automobiles in 1908. More than a century later, thousands of miles away, a once-in-a-century transition to electric vehicles (EV) is doing that to the mobility space in India. As legacy players try to find their feet in the new game, many startups are challenging their dominance head-on.

The sustainability goals of large corporations have also spawned ventures in areas such as logistics and recycling.

And while some mobility startups—such as electric scooter maker Ather Energy (read a detailed story on the company elsewhere in this issue)—are riding the EV wave, others are upending the business models of established firms.

Take ride-hailing firm Rapido, for instance. The startup, which rode into the unicorn club in 2024, started onboarding autorickshaw drivers under its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model that year, ditching commissions in favour of a platform fee or subscription. A year later, cab aggregator Uber followed suit for its autorickshaw rides.

“In a country like India, platforms can’t sustain by taking high commissions... Globally, it may work,” says Aravind Sanka, co-founder and CEO, Rapido. “Because of the cost structures we can provide [under the subscription model] and the kind of scale that this can give, this is going to be the new normal. We have seen people following the subscription model already,” he adds. After Rapido introduced the subscription model for autorickshaws and cabs, Sanka says the estimated time of arrival (ETA) has come down and bookings have increased.

For autorickshaw drivers, Rapido levies a subscription fee of around ₹20-25 per day. For cabs, it is around ₹40 a day, significantly lesser than the 30-40% commission charged by rivals, says Sanka.