India's largest cab aggregators Ola and Uber will now have a new competition in Karnataka: the Namma TYGR cab aggregator, launched with the support of at least 40,000 drivers currently associated with the cab giants.
On Thursday, Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, launched Namma TYGR, as an alternative to Ola and Uber, at his residence in JP Nagar.
Kumaraswamy launched the application by downloading it on his mobile and wished the drivers well.
The app-based service is brought out in association with Kolkata-based start-up TYGR, reports The Times of India.
Namma TYGR has been in the pipeline for a few months now, and the idea was conceived following a series of protests carried out by drivers associated with Ola and Uber, regarding their dwindling income.
At the time, the JD (S) leader had come forward to help the drivers, promising to fund a new cab service platform. Although it was initially supposed to be named after Kumaraswamy, he expressed his displeasure at a cab service being named after him.
The app was expected to be launched in August, but had faced some delay, following which, the launch date was pushed to September-end.
Tanveer Pasha, President of Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber drivers and owners’ association told Business Standard that they will start enrolling drivers from Monday onwards.
"The company will charge a commission of 12.5 per cent per trip from drivers, far lesser than the 25-30 per cent Uber and Ola charge. Further, the money which is collected will be returned to drivers in the form of benefits," he was quoted as saying.
They expect to rope in at least 7000 cabs and will launch the customer applications soon.
According to BS, a majority of cab drivers in Bengaluru hail from neighbouring towns of Mandya, Channapatna and Ramnagara- places where JD(S) is considered to have a stronghold.