Ola appears to outrun Uber, shows 70% growth in revenue

Of all the trouble, tumult and fight, cab-hailing platform Ola has been continuously rising in India. Ola has witnessed 70 per cent jump in revenue in the fiscal year 2017, according to latest regulatory filings.

The company’s revenue has risen to Rs 1,286 crore ending March 2017, compared with Rs 758.23 crore from the previous year.

The cab-hailing platform, however, didn’t disclose any numbers related to profit or loss. But, in the year 2016, it had reported a loss of 2313.7 crore that means that it spent at least three rupees for every rupee it earned during the same year.

Ola is locked an intense competitive battle with Uber India and has been claiming to maintain its hold over the past 18-24 month in the Indian market.

According to Kalagato, the Indian ride-hailing major market share rose from 53 per cent in July 2017 to 56.2 per cent in December last year. Meanwhile, Uber market share went down by around 2.4 per cent from 42 to 39.6 per cent during the same period.

Ola claims to have 12.5 crore registered users in India and more than 10 lakh driver partners across more than 110 cities. The company serves as many as a billion rides in India annually through its platform.

Besides India, Ola has been fast extending the market in other parts of the world. It launched its operation in Australia in January this year. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm has also become quite popular among drivers of its rival Uber in Down Under.

Drivers are motivated by Indian ride-hailing lower commission model, which is as low as 7.5 per cent while Uber Australia charges around 27.5 per cent, which is more than 3 times of what Ola offers.

Besides, the Bengaluru-based firm has been also looking at neighbouring markets in the sub-continent such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. It has also run a pilot in the UK last month.

The development was first reported by VCCircle.