Leading Cooperatives to Launch Bharat Taxi Service

• 04 Aug 2025
• 673 Views

The cooperative sector of India is planning to challenge Ola and Uber with the launch of a new taxi service under ‘Bharat’ brand by the end of this year. The service is backed by Rs. 300 crore authorized capital. The Bharat Taxi Service is a fully funded initiative by the top cooperatives in the country. Under the initiative, 200 drivers across four states have already been enrolled, as reported by PTI news agency.

Multi-State Sahakari Taxi Cooperative Ltd was registered as a new venture on 6 June. It brings together a total of eight leading cooperatives, incl. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO).

As per PTI, the NCDC Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Rohit Gupta, said, “The key objective is to ensure better returns to drivers and provide quality, safe and affordable services to passengers. The cooperative model will operate without any government stake. Founding members include Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and National Cooperative Exports Ltd (NCEL).”

From Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, the platform has onboarded 200 members in total (50 from each specified state/UT). Currently, the expansion efforts are being made, with cooperative reaching out to other cooperative bodies for further increasing the driver base.

Via a single app, the ride-hailing service will function at a national level. To finalize a tech partner for app development, a tender has been issued. The app is anticipated to be ready by December end. According to PTI, Mr. Gupta said, "We will finalise the technology partner in a few days."

For the national-level marketing and strategy, the cooperative has engaged a tech consultant and IIM Bangalore. A cooperative pricing model shall be adopted by Bharat taxi service for ensuring affordability for customers while improving the incomes of the drivers. 

To strengthen the platform’s presence across various parts of India, the membership drives are ongoing. Last month, the cooperation minister Amit Shah had given a confirmation about the cooperative taxi service becoming operational by the end of this year. Also, he shared a detailed cooperative policy for the cooperative sector.

The initiative by the cooperative movement is a bold step to benefit from the collective power of cooperatives in the ride-hailing market that has traditionally been dominated by major private players like Uber and Ola.

Source: Times of India