Reliance Jio may be planning to enter the online cab aggregators space.
After shaking things up in the telecom sector, Reliance Jio is now reportedly planning to make its entry into the app-based taxi service space dominated by rivalling companies - Uber and Ola
According to a report in FactorDaily, an unnamed source from Reliance Industries which owns Reliance Jio told them that the telecom arm had already placed an order for 600 Mahindras or Hyundais.
UPDATE: No plans to launch app-based taxi service, says Reliance
'Jio Cabs' is slated for a launch in as early as April, 2017, "but it might take up to six months more depending how the commercial roll-out pans out," the source said. Jio is reportedly already developing an Uber-like app for the venture and is likely to use Jio Money as the payment system.
According to the report, Jio has roped in "consulting firm E&Y to come up with pricing strategies that align with Reliance industries Chairman Ambani's plans to go all out to get market share."
Reliance Jio's entry into the domestic telecom sector on September 4, 2016, has led to an aggressive price and data war among the competitors, with the service providers striving to match the data packages that Jio is doling out to its customers. Ambani, in a recently held shareholders' meet, announced that Jio will finally start billing its customers for the services they use but this was not without offering an extension of the free services and more benefits for its first 100 million customers at a nominal cost.
Jio's entry has catalysed telecom companies to consolidate and merge to face competition. UK-based Vodafone Plc recently announced it was in initial merger talks for its India operations with Idea Cellular while Bharti Airtel said it would snap up Telenor.
Only time will tell what Jio Cabs will mean for the online cab aggregator space. But a price war that is already in play will definitely get more aggressive with the new player's entry.
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