Fast Track to raise $50 mn from investors to compete with Ola, Uber

The 17-yr-old firm plans to expand its business across the country

Fast Track Call Cabs, one of the leading cabs service in the country, is planning to raise around $50 million from investors. The money will be utilised by the company to expand its operations and to take on cab aggregators Ola and Uber.

C Ambigapathy, managing director, Fast Track said that after the entry of foreign aggregators, around 25 companies have vanished in Tamil Nadu alone. Fast Track, however, has managed to survive for the past 17 years.

The company claims that it is the first call taxi in the state.

"We did not expand the way Ola and Uber did because we did not get external fundings. Unlike these companies, we sustained through our internal resources," said M Prabhu, chairman, Fast Track Pvt Ltd.

The company is finally considering raising money through investors and is likely to take a final call on the matter soon.

At present, the company has around 15,000 vehicles in Tamil Nadu. The company also has presence in Bangalore, Vijayawada and Trivandrum.

Prabhu said that while the company's growth was affected by the entry of Ola and Uber, Fast Track continues to hold around 50 per cent of the market share in Tamil Nadu.

Fast Track announced that it will not be charging any commission from its drivers. At present, aggregators charge around 15-20 per cent as commission from drivers operating under them.

Besides, the company also slashed rates by 60 per cent for customers from two primes location in the state- the Chennai airport and railway station.

Speaking of the benefits offered by Fast Track, Ambigapathy said that the company follows a fixed rate policy and there is no surge pricing during peak hours of service.