Uber CEO sees Rapido as bigger rival than Ola in India

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi believes Rapido has emerged as the company’s biggest competition in India, overtaking Ola, which he said has become “kind of a distant third.”

“Ola used to be our main competition. We were always going head to head with Ola in terms of category position in the marketplace. I think [Bhavish Aggarwal] got somewhat distracted by other interesting areas for him. So I see now the tougher competition in India is Rapido,” Khosrowshahi said during an episode of Nikhil Kamath’s podcast People by WTF.

He added that India continues to be a critical market for Uber, calling it the company’s third-largest market in terms of mobility trips. “When we talk about the business in India... the competition that we talk about is really Rapido,” he said.

When asked what Rapido was getting right, Khosrowshahi pointed to its subscription-led model for drivers. “I'm not on the ground, but I think Rapido built a really simple model which is basically the subscription model, you pay a certain amount, and for the rest of the day, you operate on what's essentially your commission… the driver pay is higher than a player who, like us, who's taking a commission on every trip. So I think that was a smart way for them to break into the marketplace,” he said.

Rapido reportedly takes a commission of 0–5% per ride, whereas Uber and Ola charge between 18% and 22%. Media reports also suggest that Rapido had 40% ride-hailing market share across all vehicle categories as of April this year.

However, Khosrowshahi emphasized that Rapido is yet to turn profitable. “Rapido is not making money. So the real test of the business isn't how fast you can grow if you're spending, it's actually how fast you can grow while you're profitable. And I think Rapido is a long way away from that. But they've been innovative, they've been scrappy, they've moved fast. They're building their brand there in the local market, so we've got a lot of respect for them. And, you know, we intend to compete really hard with them.”

Rapido posted a 46.3% year-on-year growth, with its revenue reaching Rs 648 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024. During the same period, the company cut its losses by 45% to Rs 371 crore. Its FY25 report has yet to come.

Recently, the company ventured into the food delivery sector to take on Zomato and Swiggy. Notably, Swiggy is reportedly considering divesting its stake in the Prosus-backed firm due to a potential conflict of interest.