Rapido aims to attract auto drivers with zero commission

Ride-hailing platform Rapido on Tuesday said it is looking to attract auto drivers and bring them under its fold through a "zero commission model".

The company said it is making a shift from aggregator-commission-led model to introduce a lifetime zero commission model for its auto drivers to make the service transparent and inclusive.

Rapido Co-Founder Pavan Guntupalli said, "As per data, there are about 2 crore auto rides daily in India, of which the online market cover less than 10 per cent.

"Rapido sees its competition not in parallel players, but in the offline market. There are close to 25 lakh auto drivers in India, of which about four lakh offer services through Rapido. Through the zero-commission initiative, we aim to onboard a substantial number of offline drivers on Rapido".

Guntupalli said the revenue margins will be constrained, "however, we are not looking at per-ride commissions but revenue from an aggregate market hold in the long-term".

"Currently, Rapido is doing about 17 lakh rides per day across all verticals. We plan to double the figure to 30 lakh by the end of the year," he added.

The SaaS (Software as a Service) model operates on a nominal daily access fee, rather than a commission per ride. This enables auto drivers to keep the entire earning to themselves, break free from commission constraints and maximise their lifetime earnings, the company said in a statement.

The one-time daily login fee will vary based on the demand potential for each city, ranging from Rs 9 to Rs 29, it said.

Currently, commute service providers charge around 15 per cent commission per ride from drivers.

Swiggy-backed Rapido offers auto, bike-taxi, and cab services across more than 100 cities in the country.