Bombay HC rejects Rapido’s plea seeking bike taxi licence in Maharashtra

The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected ride-sharing company Rapido’s appeal against a Maharashtra government order denying it a licence to operate bike taxis in the state.

Justices GS Patel and SG Dige disallowed Rapido’s petition, saying it could not prove that the plea for the licence was rejected by the government only because there was no policy put in place by the state.

Rapido has been in the legal crosshairs related to its bike taxi services in several states, as taxis require yellow number plates to operate legally in the country.


Bike owners in India typically have regular white number plates. These do not permit a driver to ferry passengers in return for cash.

The lawyer representing the state argued that the reason why a policy is not in place for bike taxis is because of the safety concerns related to transporting passengers in non-transport vehicles, according to reports.

The government issued a notification on the same on January 19.

The notification “impacts Rapido’s innovative business” model which employs about 200,000 drivers, the company said in a statement.

“Rapido is evaluating judicial remedies, including arising from rejection of its licence attributed inter alia to lack of bike taxi policy in the state,” a spokesperson for Rapido said.

The Bombay HC on January 13 ordered Rapido to stop services in the state until January 20 as the state government was yet to provide a licence for it to operate in the state.

Law firm DMD Advocates appeared on behalf of Rapido after the company approached the court following a rejection by transport authorities in Pune for an aggregator’s licence in relation to bike-taxis and auto rickshaws.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on January 23 a plea by Rapido, challenging the earlier Bombay High Court order.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to list the matter for Monday after it was mentioned before it.

The developments in Maharashtra are a further blow to Swiggy-backed Rapido, which has been challenging the duopoly of SoftBank-backed Ola and California-based Uber in the Indian ride-hailing market. The company has also been facing similar challenges in Karnataka due to a lack of licences.