Can Bharat Taxi Match Amul's Success? Inside The Cooperative Model | Explained

Last Updated:February 05, 2026, 14:58 IST

Bharat Taxi drivers are expected to retain between 80-100% of their daily earnings, with only a nominal daily or monthly platform fee going towards operating costs

Unlike private aggregators, Bharat Taxi does not deduct a percentage commission from each ride. (AI Image)

Most urban commuters have hailed an app-based cab from Ola, Uber or Rapido at some point. When these platforms first entered the market, drivers reported strong earnings and flexible work. Over time, however, rising commissions and platform fees began eating into incomes, even as passengers faced higher fares and unpredictable surge pricing.

Against this backdrop, the government-backed Bharat Taxi has entered the market with a markedly different promise, of zero commission and collective ownership. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will launch the ride-hailing app on Thursday after a successful 2-month pilot run, according to an official statement. The service plans to expand to all states and cities within two years.

Structured as a cooperative, Bharat Taxi aims to shift India’s ride-hailing ecosystem away from a profit-driven gig model towards one owned and governed by drivers themselves.

Market watchers have drawn parallels with Amul, the dairy cooperative that transformed the milk economy by placing farmers at the centre of the business. Bharat Taxi, they argue, is attempting a similar reset in urban mobility, using scale, trust and shared ownership rather than venture capital and aggressive pricing.

Bharat Taxi Leadership

The service is operated by Sahkar Taxi Cooperative Limited, headquartered in New Delhi, and is supported by the Ministry of Cooperation. Its leadership carries strong cooperative credentials with Amul Managing Director Jayen Mehta chairing the cooperative, giving institutional weight to the experiment. The platform is also integrated with the National e-Governance Division, adding a layer of technological and regulatory backing.

Bharat Taxi Business Model

Unlike private aggregators, Bharat Taxi does not deduct a percentage commission from each ride. Drivers are expected to retain between 80-100% of their daily earnings, with only a nominal daily or monthly platform fee going towards operating costs. This stands in contrast to the 20-30% commissions drivers commonly report on existing platforms, after accounting for fuel costs and vehicle EMIs.

The cooperative structure also gives drivers a formal voice in decision-making. Elected driver representatives are to be part of the governing board, a departure from the top-down management typical of app-based platforms. For passengers, the model promises more predictable fares, with an assurance that prices will not spike sharply during peak hours or bad weather.

Bharat Taxi’s rollout began as a pilot in select regions and is now being expanded nationwide. Technologically, it relies on the same backend architecture used by the ONDC-linked Namma Yatri, allowing it to compete with established players without building systems from scratch.

In the United States, the Drivers Cooperative has been operating in New York since 2021 as a driver-owned alternative to Uber and Lyft, and has emerged as the country’s largest taxi cooperative despite limited marketing budgets. Closer home, Goa’s taxi ecosystem has long functioned through strong unions and informal cooperation, effectively keeping large aggregators out, though critics note that this has often resulted in high fares for passengers.

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