Ola, Uber among four companies to get aggregator licence in MMR

The transport authority for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has decided to issue "provisional aggregator licence" to four companies, including Ola and Uber, for operating app-based taxi services in the region, an official said on Thursday.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) has decided to issue provisional aggregator licence to ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd (Ola), Uber India Systems Pvt Ltd, Meru Mobility Tech Pvt Ltd, and Mahindra Logistics Ltd as per the Union government's Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines-2020, the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Department official said.

Earlier this month, observing that app-based taxi firms Ola and Uber operating in Maharashtra without valid licences was an instance of "complete lawlessness", Bombay High Court had directed all the aggregators to apply for valid licence by March 16 if they wish to continue operations.

Acting on the high court's directive, six companies, including Ola and Uber, had made 10 applications for aggregator's licence under the Union government's guidelines. As most of the applications were not fulfilling all the required conditions, the MMRTA in its last week's meeting had asked the companies to comply with those conditions before March 30, 2022.

In Maharashtra, app-based taxis and autos have been operational since 2014.

Notably, for the first time since the launch of its cab services in Maharashtra in 2014, Ola and Uber had applied for getting the licence. Even though the state government had brought new rules to regulate app-based cab service, the companies had never applied for aggregator licence.

The official said that the representatives of all the six companies were present for the MMRTA's meeting held on Wednesday and assured fulfilment of the conditions mentioned in the guidelines. Based on those, the authority decided to issue provisional aggregator licences to four companies including Ola and Uber, which were fulfilling majority of conditions. The licence would be issued with a condition of compliance of the remaining conditions within a month.

The MMRTA in its minutes also specified the provisional aggregator licence having 30 days of validity will automatically stand cancelled if the companies fail to fulfil the remaining conditions within the deadline.

The official said that the authority, however, rejected the applications of Mediamiles Pvt Ltd (All Miles), and Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd as the companies failed to fulfil the conditions like driver training centre, payment of licence fees, lack of simulator and induction trainings facility, health insurance for drivers, and valid documents of the drivers, among others.