Can Vietnam's Green SM make India's all-electric cab model work?

Vietnam-based mobility company Green SM on Friday launched its electric taxi service, Green SM Limo, in Delhi-NCR, marking Vingroup's entry into India

Around a year ago, BluSmart, India’s first large-scale all-electric cab-hailing startup, shut down operations after allegations of financial misconduct against its co-founders triggered a broader crisis at the company.

 

The shutdown raised difficult questions about whether fully electric ride-hailing businesses could sustainably scale in India’s price-sensitive, infrastructure-constrained mobility market.

 

On Friday (June 05), Vietnam-based mobility company Green SM launched its electric taxi service, Green SM Limo, in Delhi-NCR, marking Vingroup’s entry into India, its latest international market after Laos, Indonesia and the Philippines.

 

The launch is a fresh attempt to build a large electric ride-hailing business in India. The company is betting that cheaper batteries, more charging stations, and rising fuel costs have made EV fleets more viable than they were during BluSmart’s expansion years.

   

Green SM has started operations in key areas of the National Capital Region and will expand its coverage in phases. The Vietnamese EV maker is looking to deploy a fleet of around 10,000 vehicles in India.

 

The entry revives broader questions around whether India’s EV ecosystem, from charging infrastructure to fleet economics and consumer demand, has evolved enough in recent years for large-scale electric ride-hailing businesses to become more viable.

 

Why BluSmart's case offers both hope and caution

 

When BluSmart started operations in 2020, few expected an all-electric cab-hailing startup to reshape customer expectations in India’s ride-hailing market. Yet, in many ways, BluSmart demonstrated that Indian consumers were willing to pay for a premium all-electric ride-hailing experience.

 

The company differentiated itself from traditional aggregators through cleaner vehicles, quieter rides, and more reliable service quality, building a loyal customer base, particularly among airport and corporate commuters in cities such as Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. Unlike conventional ride-hailing platforms that depended on driver-owned vehicles, BluSmart operated a fully electric fleet supported by captive charging hubs.

 

Its shutdown last year, however, raised broader concerns around whether such asset-heavy electric mobility businesses could sustainably scale in India’s highly competitive cab market.

 

But BluSmart’s collapse was not solely a reflection of weak EV fleet economics.

 

“It was not purely because of the lack of business viability of e-cab. Wrongdoing had a major role to play,” said Shyamasis Das, Fellow at Centre for Social and Economic Progress, pointing to the governance and financial issues that ultimately triggered the company’s downfall.

 

What is Green SM doing differently?

 

Green SM’s parent company, VinFast, is itself an EV maker, giving it greater control over vehicle production, technology and upfront fleet costs.

 

According to Das, this vertically integrated model could offer Green SM structural advantages that BluSmart did not have during its expansion years. The Vietnamese company can use ride-hailing operations in India to simultaneously create demand for its own electric passenger vehicles while also generating revenue from mobility services.

 

“They are self-creating a market for their EVs,” Das said.

 

The broader operating environment for EV fleets has also evolved since BluSmart began scaling operations. While global lithium-ion battery prices have continued to decline, the rise in crude oil prices driven by the conflict in West Asia has strengthened the economics of EVs in high-utilisation segments such as ride-hailing, according to Das.

 

"At the same time, India’s charging ecosystem has expanded considerably over the past few years. Government initiatives such as FAME-II and PM E-DRIVE have accelerated the rollout of public charging stations, with over 29,000 chargers now installed across the country", said Pratik Kamdar, co-founder and CEO of Neuron Energy.

 

However, large commercial EV fleets require more than just charging points, he noted.

 

“For them, success is not defined by the number of charging points alone. What matters is charger reliability, uptime, power availability, ease of access, and the ability to support vehicles that operate for long hours with minimal downtime,” he said.

 

The hidden challenge

 

While Green SM may have structural advantages over BluSmart through its integration with EV manufacturing, the core operational challenges of running large-scale electric ride-hailing fleets in India remain largely unchanged.

 

Unlike conventional ride-hailing platforms that primarily scale through digital aggregation, fully electric fleet operators must simultaneously build and manage a physical infrastructure ecosystem, which primarily includes charging hubs, power access, and around their vehicles. As a result, scaling an all-electric ride-hailing platform becomes as much an infrastructure and energy-management challenge as a mobility business.

 

Das said access to public charging networks will be critical for improving fleet economics at scale.

 

“If public charging infrastructure is available across their catchment area, then their non-revenue trips or non-revenue distance will come down,” Das said, adding that this allows operators to improve utilisation and increase revenue-generating trips.

 

However, India’s charging ecosystem is still evolving for large-scale commercial deployment. “Grid readiness and reliable power availability are emerging as some of the most critical factors, particularly as commercial fleets grow and charging demand becomes more concentrated,” Kamdar said.

 

The real test for Green SM: Service quality and execution

 

For Green SM, infrastructure alone may not determine success. According to Das, the long-term success of electric ride-hailing businesses in India will ultimately depend on operational execution rather than electrification alone.

 

Das pointed to two major risks for companies such as Green SM.

 

The first is charging access and infrastructure planning. Large commercial fleets require frequent charging across operating areas, and inefficient charging strategies can significantly increase downtime and operational costs.

 

The second is business execution itself, including pricing, reliability, and customer experience in an already crowded ride-hailing market dominated by players such as Uber and Rapido.

 

BluSmart did not scale just from using electric vehicles, but from offering dependable and premium service quality, particularly through assured availability and a cleaner customer experience.

 

“It’s not just about the product. It’s not just about saving fuel,” he said. “It’s about the service quality, reliability of the service, and how they plan the business.”

 

Whether Green SM can sustain that balance between infrastructure, economics, and customer experience at scale may ultimately determine whether India’s all-electric ride-hailing model succeeds in its second major attempt.