 "Beating the cash crunch: Ola lets people ride now, pay later")
Amidst the chaos and confusion of the demonetisation move by the government, cab hailing app Ola on Wednesday launched a credit feature that lets commuters take a ride now, but pay only after seven days.
At the end of the seven-day period customers can pay their bills via net banking, debit or credit cards, or through the Ola Money wallet. The company said its corporate clients such as Larsen & Toubro and IBM have also subscribed to the Ola credit feature for their businesses.
However, Ola will extend the credit to its individual users selectively, depending on their transaction history.
The service is being launched at a time when cash conservation is important for many.
“Credit is an important step towards our goal of ensuring mobility for a billion Indians,” says Raghuvesh Sarup, chief marketing officer of Ola.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations would be withdrawn from circulation to tackle corruption and counterfeit currency.
In the absence of higher denominated currency, only Rs 100 notes are being accepted for cash purchases. However, the government has failed to meet the demand for Rs 100 notes, which has led to long serpentine lines at banks and ATMs. People have been forced to conserve whatever cash they have on them, which has given a much-needed fillip to online transactions.
It remains to be seen if Uber, Ola’s closest rival, will also adopt the move. Interestingly, Uber broke from its tradition of accepting payment only via card, to allow cash payment last year. The move was in response to Ola’s success with cash-based payments.
This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here
