Ola to invest Rs.5,000 crore in cab leasing programme

Cab aggregator services Ola on Monday said that it was launching a first of its kind cab leasing programme for driver partners and would dedicate a capital of over Rs.5,000 crore for scaling this up in the coming year.

As a part of the strategy, Ola has hired Rahul Maroli to head the leasing business. Prior to joining Ola, Rahul was a part of the management team at fleet management company LeasePlan.

"We believe that this first of its kind leasing programme brings a unique benefit to driver partners to turn entrepreneurs. Through key partnerships with financial institutions and car manufacturers, Ola's subsidiary will be able to bring in additional high quality supply to address the unmet mobility demands of millions of users in the country," said Ola co-founder and chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal.

The company has also been running a pilot project before launching the programme. "Over 1,000 vehicles in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and three other cities are a part of the pilot," Ola said.

"The programme will enable flexibility for drivers to lease a car for a minimal initial deposit and monthly lease payments with an option to own the vehicle after a period of 3 years, opening up tremendous opportunity for hundreds of thousands of drivers to turn entrepreneurs in the long run while giving them instant access to a stable income," the company said.