Uber India is planning a major expansion as it looks to buy as many as 200,000 passenger vehicles over the next two years. The company is planning to lease the cars to drivers who want to join its cab-hailing platform, a top executive told Economic Times.
The vehicle purchase, likely the largest ever by a single buyer in India, will be in addition to Uber’s programme to help driver-partners acquire their own cabs by arranging finance and negotiating deals with automakers.
The vehicles will be purchased by Uber’s leasing unit, Xchange Leasing. Maruti Suzuki and Tata are likely to gain the most as the San Francisco-based company already has pacts with the two for driver skilling programmes, vehicle purchase and finance solutions. The deal could translate into Rs 13000 crore for both car manufactures.
Uber currently has 400,000 drivers on the platform. Uber’s operations in India account for 12% of its global market share. Rival Ola recently signed a deal, potentially worth Rs 2,600 crore, with M&M to purchase 40,000 vehicles in two years for its driver-partners.
