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    Maruti to train Uber drivers

    Synopsis

    Industry experts said Uber’s association with Maruti Suzuki could lead to deeper ties going ahead.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: To fend off competition in India's fiercely-contested ride hailing sector, Uber Technologies is teaming up with the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) as part of its objective to bring a million skilled driver partners on its platform over the next two years.

    Uber currently has 400,000 driver partners, around half of whom are active every month. Under the soon-to-be unveiled 'Uber Shaan' initiative, the company is targeting increase the number of active driver partners on its platform five-fold to 1,000,000 drivers every month. Uber has identified India as next battleground after it sold its operations to Didi Chuxing Technology in China.

    Top sources in know of Uber’s plans told The Economic Times, “Uber has around 200,000 active driver partners on their platform currently and they want to increase this to a million by 2018. They are beginning with this pilot with Maruti Suzuki and will extend this going ahead”, said an executive in know of developments.

    As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed on Thursday, to begin with Maruti Suzuki will assess and train 30,000 commercial drivers for Uber over the next three years. The pilot phase will be rolled out in Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and the programme will be introduced thereafter in Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Pune. The company has 370 driving schools and six Institute of Driving and Traffic Research.

    “The initiative is aimed at providing aspiring commercial drivers with micro-entrepreneurship opportunities and equipping them with necessary skill to operate on the Uber platform. We expect to train 30,000 drivers under this programme”, said Mahesh Rajoria, assistant vice-president, driving and training, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL).

    Besides, training drivers through a specialized module at Maruti Suzuki’s driving schools, Uber is also forging an alliance with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to impart among others soft skills at its in-house centres across 28 cities to its existing driver partners.

    The move comes even as rival Ola tied-up with homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) last week to draw in more drivers by offering attractive vehicle financing, insurance and maintenance solutions with the car maker. Ola has previously announced to add 100,000 drivers to its existing base of 450,000 partners by the end of December.

    As per the arrangement with Maruti Suzuki, Uber will provide qualified leads of potential driver-partners to Maruti Suzuki for facilitating them with commercial driver training. Under the specialized training module developed by Maruti Suzuki, the drivers will undergo pre-assessment tests, theoretical training, practical training and post-training assessments for a period of 30 days.

    Industry experts said Uber’s association with Maruti Suzuki could lead to deeper ties going ahead. Puneet Gupta, associate director, IHS-Markit explained, “The Maruti Suzuki-Uber tie-up will create a win-win situation for both firms. Maruti Suzuki has a widespread network of driving schools and Uber needs skilled drivers for growth, especially beyond metroes. In the short-term auto makers are taking different directions in associating with ride sharing companies because long term everyone knows that a major chunk of business will come in from cab aggregators.”

    Uber already has a partnership with the Tata Group for comprehensive vehicle purchasing and financing solutions which aims at enabling 20,000 Uber drivers to start their own business over the next year. The executive added that while Uber will look at leveraging this strategic tie-up with the Tata Group, the company is looking at solutions which would enable its driver partners to avail of financing options at very low down payments and interest rates.

    With the concept of shared mobility leapfrogging and making major strides within the country, auto makers have been forging associations with ride-hailing platforms to be a part of the disruption. The share of fleet sales in overall passenger vehicles sales has grown from 2-3% five years back to almost 10-12% at around 20,000 to 25,000 units every month now. With the fleet market clocking growth in excess of 15-20% in India over the last few years compared to low single digit growth seen in the industry, car makers from Toyota to Tata, Mahindra and Nissan have been forging alliances with Ola and Uber. Car makers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Toyota have designed specific variant for the cab market to make it attractive for fleet operators.

    Last week, homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) became the latest in the line to announce a partnership with Ola to supply 40,000 cars in two years and generate a business of Rs 2,600 crore for the Mahindra Group.

    Globally too, General Motors has announced a $500 million investment in Lyft, with plans down the road to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars. In May, Toyota also laid out plans to invest in Uber to create flexible vehicle leasing terms, while the ride-hailing service has also entered into a $300 million deal with the Volvo Car Group to develop self-driving cars. Europe's largest automaker Volkswagen has also announced a $300 million investment in Gett aimed at car sharing, limousine rides and taxi services.


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