New Delhi-based Mega Cabs is entering a new segment to stay ahead in the highly competitive Rs 36,000 crore cab rental market in India. The company plans to roll out a new brand to take on players such as Meru, Ola and the latest entrant Uber, who are also planning to tap this segment.
Kunal Lalani, Founder, Mega Cabs, said “We plan to target the discerning traveller, who is willing to pay a premium for better services. There is whole lot of corporate daily consumers, institutional clients who would be interested. Also, there are no true point-to-point premium cab services in India so we see a good potential here”. Ola and Uber amongst others do not serve in the point-to-point business.
Mega Cabs plans to start the service in Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore in the first quarter of next year with cars such as Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia and other high-end sedans. Other cities will be added later on. Meanwhile, Olacabs is learnt to have been doing a pilot in Mumbai with a fleet of about 500 cars and is looking at launching in Bangalore and Delhi soon. There are other players like Carzonrent and KTC (Karachi Taxi Company) who are trying to create a niche in this segment, which fetches high-margin
Mega Cabs, founded in 2001, is of late getting aggressive after facing stiff competition from Meru, Taxiforsure and Ola. The company is present in 6 cities – Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Ludhiana and plans to add least 6 more cities by 2016. At the same time, Ola, started in 2010, has already entered 16 cities and is targeting 100 cities by 2015. But there is a difference in the business model as Mega Cabs follows an ownership model while Uber, TaxiForSure and Olacabs follow no-inventory model.
Mega Cabs is also undertaking multiple initiatives to re-brand itself and invest more in providing better services, training of drivers and more technological advancements.
“We have started acquiring a whole range of new consumers lately. In fact, this industry has suddenly woken up and there is still lot of demand in the existing as well potential markets for cab services. ” Lalani added.