Centre Launches Bharat Taxi, India’s First Cooperative Ride-Hailing Service

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New Delhi: The central government has launched Bharat Taxi, India’s first cooperative taxi service.

This will offer drivers ownership of their earnings and provide commuters with a state-supervised alternative to private ride-hailing giants like Ola and Uber.

Developed under the Union Ministry of Cooperation and the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), the initiative introduces a cooperative model where drivers retain full fare revenue. Instead of paying commissions of up to 25 per cent to aggregators, members will pay a small daily, weekly, or monthly fee to the cooperative.

Responding to Driver and Passenger Concerns

Officials said the move addresses long-standing grievances from both passengers and drivers about inconsistent pricing, high commissions, and poor service standards on existing app-based platforms. The government stated that Bharat Taxi’s cooperative structure will ensure fair wages, transparent pricing, and greater accountability. The model aims to prioritise the welfare of drivers while maintaining service quality for passengers.

Pilot Phase and Expansion Plans

The pilot phase of Bharat Taxi will roll out in November in Delhi with 650 vehicles operated by owner-drivers. A national expansion is planned for December, covering major cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Bhopal, and Jaipur. Around 5,000 drivers, including both men and women, will join during the initial national phase. The government aims to scale the platform to 20 cities within a year and reach district headquarters and rural areas by 2030, with a projected network of one lakh drivers across India.

Governance and Cooperative Structure

The service will be operated by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Limited, established in June 2025 with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore. The cooperative will be collectively owned by driver-members, each having a stake in profits and decision-making. Oversight will be managed by a governing council headed by Jayen Mehta, Managing Director of Amul, with Rohit Gupta, Deputy Managing Director of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), as Vice Chairman.

A Step Toward a Cooperative Economy

Officials described Bharat Taxi as a driver-first model aligned with the Centre’s vision of expanding the cooperative framework into India’s service economy. If successful, Bharat Taxi could reshape the country’s Rs 50,000-crore ride-hailing market by setting new benchmarks for ownership, fairness, and transparency in digital platforms.