Meru Cabs in top gear, plans overseas foray by end of 2011

Having achieved a close to 50% market share in the Indian market, radio cab service provider Meru Cabs plans to venture overseas by end-this year.

"We have about a 50% share in the domestic market. We think this is the right time to enter the global market," Meru Cabs chief executive Rajesh Puri said.

"We are in talks with the governments of three-four countries and plan to start our operations by end-2011."

Puri, however, did not identify the markets the company planned to enter.

The country's largest radio cab service provider wants to ramp-up its operations by adding 2,000 cars and hiring an equal number of drivers by end-2011 to meet consumer demand.

"We plan to add 2,000 cabs at an investment of around Rs200 crore by December 2011 to cater to customer demand," he said, adding the company also plans to recruit an equal number of drivers by the year-end.

Currently, Meru has 5,300 cars and 5,000 drivers pan-India. It receives around 5,000 requests for cab bookings on a single day across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

"We receive around 15 lakh requests every month," Puri said, adding "during peak hours, the company finds itself rejecting nearly 40% requests."

Puri said Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL), which offers mobile phone services under the MTS brand, has partnered with Meru to offer free Internet services to its passengers in New Delhi and Mumbai.

"The company is likely to soon launch similar services in other major towns as well," he said.