Ola wants to steal away biz riders from Uber

Ola, India’s largest taxi-hailing app, this afternoon launched a new segment called Ola Corporate. It’s exactly the same as Uber for Business, which the Silicon Valley-based rival rolled out some months ago in the country.

“In July 2014, we launched Uber for Business in the US, UK, France, and Canada and it has since been available in many other countries, including India. It is one of our fastest growing product and over 50,000 companies have signed up including several in India,” an Uber India spokesperson told Tech In Asia.

Ola is promising biz passengers ETAs of less than five minutes, the same as Uber.

The new Ola Corporate allows businesses to pick up the tab for employees who need to travel on the company’s dime. Rather than the worker first paying out of pocket and then claiming the ride as an expense by presenting a receipt, a company can set up a ride account so that the firm pays using a centralized prepaid account.

Users of the Ola app can now toggle between paying using their personal payment method or by dipping into the corporate account.

Graphic by Tech In Asia’s Andre Gunawan.

“Centralized billing makes the entire process of applying for transport reimbursements redundant for corporate travellers and organizations resulting in improved business productivity,” Ola said in a statement.

But then, that’s all pretty much what Uber said.

Ola is trying to push the envelope is the promise that Ola Corporate will deliver an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of “less than five minutes across all major Indian metros.” So does Uber.

Cab ETAs in India are – more often than not – inaccurate. Perpetual traffic snarls and convoluted addresses mean drivers are delayed or lost on the way to pick ups, and an ETA of five minutes often turns out to be a waiting time of ten – or even more, if you are unlucky.

If Ola is able to crack the ETA promise, it will steal a march on Uber for biz rides. But for now, it’s just a catch-up feature so the Indian ride app doesn’t feel left behind.