New Delhi: Bharat Taxi, the Ministry of Cooperation-backed ride-hailing service, is expected to commence operations from Delhi in November, followed by Rajkot in Gujarat, ThePrint has learnt.
“We are planning to commence the pilot phase for Bharat Taxi from Delhi in November, followed by Rajkot in Gujarat, and then Maharashtra by financial year end,” a senior official of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), closely associated with the initiative, told ThePrint.
As of October 2025, the Bharat Taxi initiative has onboarded nearly 650 drivers, up from 200 drivers as reported by ThePrint in August. The target is to onboard more than 5,000 drivers before the year ends, said the official.
The mobile application for commuters of government-backed taxi services is expected to go live in November. “We have already submitted applications to Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store to onboard the Bharat mobile application, which will be rolled out in November,” said the NCDC official.
The entry of Bharat Taxi marks the government’s entry into the ride-hailing market, currently dominated by private players like Ola and Uber. Bharat Taxi service will operate on a subscription model (zero percent commission structure) with fixed daily, weekly or monthly fees to be paid by drivers to the cooperative, thereby allowing drivers to retain entire fare earnings.
According to the official, Bharat Taxi service would be beneficial for both drivers and riders, empowering them through transparency in pricing and removing the involvement of middlemen.
Recently, private players like Ola and Uber have already started to shift to a subscription-based model from the commission-based model owing to changing market practices and pushback from drivers. Starting June, Ola shifted to a subscription model to capture the market early, whereas Uber followed suit in October.
ThePrint has reached out to Ola and Uber via mail and messages. This report will be updated if and when we receive a response.
Bharat Taxi will be operated by the newly-formed cooperative society—the Multi-State Sahakari Taxi Cooperative Ltd—which was registered in June 2025 with an authorised capital of Rs 300 crore and is backed by eight cooperatives including NCDC.
The other seven cooperatives backing the initiative are—Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).
Jayen Mehta, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, will be the chairman of the Multi-State Sahakari Taxi Cooperative Ltd, while Rohit Gupta, deputy managing director of NCDC, will be the vice-chairman.
Focus on partnerships and safety
Bharat Taxi is in advanced talks with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi Transport Corporation for last mile connectivity in Delhi. “A commuter will be able to book a taxi and also buy a metro ticket from the Bharat Taxi mobile application,” said the NCDC official.
To promote participation of pushback from drivers, cooperative society officials are also in discussions with a Delhi-based NGO to onboard 100 ‘Mahila Sarthi’ (women drivers), the official added.
For commuter safety, officials at the Sahakari cooperative society are also working with Delhi Police to integrate an emergency signal.
“Bharat Taxi will also have a distress button in the mobile application apart from cars,” said the official, pointing out that car push buttons sometimes don’t work properly. “Upon pressing the signal, the nearest police control room will be notified so that appropriate action can be taken.”
To enable digital verification of drivers and vehicles, the cooperative society is partnering with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s DigiLocker platform, ensuring digital verification using Aadhaar and vehicle registration details.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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