The Delhi government has asked India’s information technology ministry to block the taxi-hailing apps of Uber and Ola in the national capital, news agency Reuters reports, quoting an unnamed government official.
Yesterday, Delhi transport officials asked Uber and Ola to cease operations if they want their applications for radio taxi licenses to be processed. The officials had earlier asked the central government to block Uber’s IP address in India if the company does not abide by the law on running taxis. A block of the IP address would prevent passengers and drivers from accessing the app. Now, Ola too seems to be caught in this regulatory fix.
Taxi-hailing apps hit a roadblock in India when an Uber driver raped a passenger in Delhi three months ago. This led to a ban in several Indian cities, and a close scrutiny of safety measures, driver screening, and liabilities that these ride-hailing companies assume.
Uber had given in to a transport authority demand to apply for a radio taxi license in India, after initially insisting that it is not a radio taxi company. But its application fell short of what was required. The bone of contention is Uber’s insistence that it is just an internet platform connecting owners and drivers of cars with their customers, while regulators are equally insistent that it has to follow rules like any other taxi service.
The transport authority refused to give a license to Uber unless it met the licensing conditions. On its part, Uber said it is “evaluating the perceived deficiencies in the time period provided to us by the government.”
Uber tied up with First Advantage to do background checking of its drivers and included two new panic buttons on the Uber app – only in India – to persuade consumers and authorities that it is serious about safety.
Earlier this week, it got into a “commercial marketing arrangement” with The Times of India Group to help ease its rollout across India.
Meanwhile, Uber’s main rival Ola recently bought out its closest Indian rival TaxiForSure and is reported to be in the market for another mega funding round, after raising US$210 million from Japan’s SoftBank late last year. But first, it may have to sort out the regulatory tangle with Indian authorities.
Source: Reuters
Editing by J.T.Quigley
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