NEW DELHI: San Francisco headquartered Uber, which entered the Indian market three years ago, has zoomed past homegrown rivals like Meru Cabs and Carzonrent, which operates Easy Cabs.
Uber’s revenues in India grew over fivefold to Rs 374 crore in 2015-16, according to a filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), while Meru posted revenues of Rs323 crore during the same period. Easy Cabs, on the other hand, clocked sales of Rs 216 crore. Uber’s biggest Indian rival Ola is yet to declare its numbers. Just a year ago, both these rivals were four times bigger than Uber in India. In 2014-15, Meru had revenues of Rs 289 crore while Easy Cabs posted sales of Rs 263 crore.
Uber’s sales, in comparison, stood at Rs69 crore. ET had reported, earlier in December, that Uber India Systems, which provides marketing and support services to Uber, posted a 442% jump in its revenues for the year ended March 2016. Uber’s rapid growth comes as the world’s most valuable startup continues to invest heavily in the Indian market. It has already committed $1 billion and the firm’s co-founder Travis Kalanick, in a January visit to India, had said the company would double its pledged investment if it sees more than five times the return. After Uber sold off its China operations to Didi Chuxing earlier this year, it has further accelerated its efforts in India, which is now its second-largest market after US.
Rajiv K Vij, CEO, Carzonrent attributed the drop in its revenues to the sale of its operating lease business to Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation in September 2014. “We had sold that division for Rs 200 crore and there was a significant revenue from the business that doesn’t come into our portfolio.“ Vij claimed the company’s car rental business grew on an average of 21-22% and it had a profit margin of around 30%. “We are not buying business like some others; we are doing a sustainable business and our operations are continuously growing, it is profitable. That’s the difference between our business and theirs,“ he said.
