The new cab wars: Uber, Rapido, Ola bet on segmentation for success

The ride-hailing industry in India is undergoing a quiet but significant shift. BluSmart—the all-electric cab startup once hailed as the next big disruptor—finds itself in a perilous position. Struggling due to a cash crunch and amidst allegations that its promoters siphoned funds from Gensol, its publicly listed sister entity, BluSmart is now relying on Uber to keep its fleet running. It’s an ironic turn for a company that set out to challenge the Ola-Uber duopoly.

Despite its future hanging by a thread, though, BluSmart was an important chapter in the Indian ride-hailing story. The Gurugram-headquartered company helped unlock a market that few believed existed in India—customers willing to pay a premium for clean, predictable, and cancellation-free cab rides. In a post-pandemic world where reliability had become a rare commodity, BluSmart filled a gap that Ola and Uber hadn’t addressed.

“The Shoffrs and BluSmarts ended up unlocking a new segment,” said an executive associated with Swiggy-backed Rapido, which claims to now control a quarter of India’s cab market just two years after entering the segment. “These are all ultra-premium services, and customers would not mind paying 3X the price just for the comfort.”