Why Uber isn't cool anymore

It was not uncommon for drivers registered on the network of ride-hailing apps like Uber and OIa to earn an average of upto Rs 1 lakh per month.

As these companies fought for market share they wooed drivers with incentives. That now looks set to be a thing of the past, as cab aggregators begin to tighten their purse strings.

Uber started the year by increasing fares in Delhi and has now followed it up with a new incentive structure for drivers, announced on Tuesday. Under the new structure, incentives will be paid on each trip and not on the number of rides or total earnings per day. These incentives will be around 50-70% of the ride fare.

In addition, drivers will need to do 34 trips a week to get Rs 1,000, or 44 trips a week to get Rs 2,000 as additional bonus. This has reduced earnings from incentives for Uber drivers steeply according to data gathered by urban transportation consulting firm Valoriser Consultants (see graphic). "The company will also deduct their commission and service tax so the effective incentive will be just 25%-45%," said Valoriser's Jaspal Singh.