India caps fee of cab aggregators like Ola, Uber at 20% of total fare

Cab aggregators like Uber and Ola will draw a fee of 20% of the base fare, the transport ministry said in a set of guidelines meant to regulate ride-hailing services in India.

Among other major changes, the ministry has capped surge pricing to 1.5 times the base fare. Cancellation fee of 10% of the total fare, not exceeding ₹100 has been set for both riders and drivers.

The guidelines for regulating cab aggregators have been long pending, and were issued by the ministry as part of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.


“The Driver of a vehicle integrated with the Aggregator shall receive at least 80% of the fare applicable on each ride and the remaining charges for each ride shall be received by the Aggregator,” read the guidelines, a copy of which has been reviewed by ET.

The State Government may by way of a notification direct 2% over and above the fare towards the state exchequer for amenities and programmes related for aggregator operated vehicles, which have been helpful in reducing traffic congestion to a great extent and subsequently reducing pollution.

Besides a surge pricing of 1.5 times the base fare, the aggregator will be permitted to charge a fare 50% lower than the base fare.

The city taxi fare indexed by WPI for the current year shall be the base fare chargeable to customers availing Aggregator service.

In a bid to reduce traffic congestion and automobile pollution, and effective asset utilizations, the government has also allowed aggregators towards non-transport vehicle pooling, unless prohibited by the State Government.

A maximum of four ride-sharing intra-city trips on a calendar day and a maximum of 2 ride-sharing inter-city trips per week shall be permitted for each vehicle with the driver, integrated with the aggregator, the guidelines say.

The cab aggregator will be required to establish a control room with 24x7 operations and ensure that all the vehicles, on direction of the Aggregator, maintain uninterrupted contact with the control room.

Aggregators will ensure that the data generated on the App is stored on a server in India and that such stored data shall be for a minimum of 3 months and maximum of 24 months from the date on which such data is generated, the new guidelines mandate.

This data shall be made available to the State Government as per due process of law. Any data related to customers will not be disclosed without the written consent of the customer, the guidelines say.