Meru eyeing Rs 1,000-cr revenue next year

Meru Cabs, India's largest radio taxi service, is eyeing Rs 1,000 crore in revenues by the next financial year. The firm claimed it is one of the few start-ups that would start earning profits.

"We are the only one breaking even and on the path to making profits. We stuck to our game plan and did not offer deep discounting schemes like the competition. We ensured we made optimum utilisation of resources. We would be earning profits by next financial year," said chief executive Siddhartha Pahwa.

The firm has earned Rs 700 crore in revenue this year. It plans to organise a major drive to help smaller cab companies come on board and would help them be a player in the radio cab universe. "Technology is a challenge the smaller players face and we would help them with that," said Pahwa. Meru had earlier said it would be raising $100-200 million in the next one year, as it plans to get into tie-ups with smaller taxi cab players and expand in 30 more cities in the next 18 months.

"We are always in discussion for raising funds. In the next round we would be raising $50-100 million by the first quarter of 2016. We believe that the sector needs a lot of capital for marketing, recruitment of drivers and cars and the industry as a whole would need around $1.5-2 billion in the next two years," Pahwa had said.

The company, which at present has a fleet of 20,000-plus taxis, plans to increase it to 100,000 by 2020. Established in 2007, Meru is servicing 23 cities. In all, the firm has managed to raise around $120 million.

The company is also exploring other forms of generating revenues with the new pollution norms and regulations coming up. It recently launched a car pooling service wherein anyone can provide carpooling service to people riding to the same location. "We are offering this service for free, but in the near future, depending on its success, we will find a way to monetise it and add another revenue source," said Pahwa.

Application against Uber, Ola

The firm, along with other players, is planning to launch an offensive against cab aggregators Uber and Ola, which they say are causing pollution as most of them run on diesel. He said the radio cab association would be meeting Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and submit their application of not allowing diesel-run cabs.