ReutersRide-hailing company Uber has partnered with the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to offer metro ticket booking through its app, starting with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tickets.
The service will soon be extended to three more cities in India, said Prabhjeet Singh, president of Uber India & South Asia, without disclosing further details.
Uber is also set to roll out B2B logistics through the ONDC network, which will allow businesses to access on-demand logistics from Uber’s delivery network without maintaining their own fleet. The service will begin with food deliveries and later extend to sectors such as ecommerce, grocery, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare logistics.
Earlier, ET had reported that ride-hailing app Rapido is in talks with restaurateurs to introduce food delivery as a service on its platform, with a pilot programme expected to launch soon in Bengaluru.
Also Read: Cooking up a storm: Rapido’s foray will disrupt the food delivery market, say industry experts
“By enabling metro tickets on the Uber network, we are fulfilling the needs many of our existing customers have already expressed,” said Singh, adding that this will also attract new customers to the platform.
Uber, which competes with Ola Cabs, Rapido, and others, currently offers ride-hailing services on four-wheelers, autorickshaws, two-wheeler taxis, and buses operated under Uber Shuttle, in addition to hyperlocal deliveries.
Earlier this month, the company launched Courier XL, a service that expands its logistics product Courier, to enable deliveries of large goods.
“ONDC’s protocol, which is now live, scaled, tested, and reliable, enables us as Uber to use it to go live with DMRC faster, with a far more reliable infrastructure, and make it available at scale much quicker than we could have otherwise,” Singh added. “Because of this, we can now go online in multiple other metro systems even more rapidly.”
Uber, which operates in more than 125 cities across India, has over 1.4 million monthly active drivers in the country, making it the company’s third-largest market. According to Uber’s chief technology officer, Praveen Neppalli Naga, the platform facilitated over a billion trips across India in 2024.
Uber saw its operating revenue in India grow by 41% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 to touch Rs 3,762 crore. The company managed to reduce its losses on the back of an improvement in its ride-hailing services and growth in its support and service operations.
DMRC recently partnered with ONDC, enabling commuters to book metro tickets through several consumer apps, including Rapido and Namma Yatri.
The mobility segment of ONDC has seen steady growth, alongside an increase in the logistics sector. In February, ONDC recorded 8.1 million transactions in the mobility category, marking a 47% rise from 5.5 million orders in October 2024.
“As a global platform, Uber’s initial enablement of metro ticketing and logistics unlocks new possibilities — from seamless multimodal journeys to unifying a fragmented logistics ecosystem,” said Vibhor Jain, acting CEO and COO at ONDC. Jain was appointed as the acting CEO last week following the resignation of former CEO T Koshy on April 9.
The service will soon be extended to three more cities in India, said Prabhjeet Singh, president of Uber India & South Asia, without disclosing further details.
Uber is also set to roll out B2B logistics through the ONDC network, which will allow businesses to access on-demand logistics from Uber’s delivery network without maintaining their own fleet. The service will begin with food deliveries and later extend to sectors such as ecommerce, grocery, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare logistics.
Earlier, ET had reported that ride-hailing app Rapido is in talks with restaurateurs to introduce food delivery as a service on its platform, with a pilot programme expected to launch soon in Bengaluru.
Also Read: Cooking up a storm: Rapido’s foray will disrupt the food delivery market, say industry experts
“By enabling metro tickets on the Uber network, we are fulfilling the needs many of our existing customers have already expressed,” said Singh, adding that this will also attract new customers to the platform.
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Uber, which competes with Ola Cabs, Rapido, and others, currently offers ride-hailing services on four-wheelers, autorickshaws, two-wheeler taxis, and buses operated under Uber Shuttle, in addition to hyperlocal deliveries.
Earlier this month, the company launched Courier XL, a service that expands its logistics product Courier, to enable deliveries of large goods.
“ONDC’s protocol, which is now live, scaled, tested, and reliable, enables us as Uber to use it to go live with DMRC faster, with a far more reliable infrastructure, and make it available at scale much quicker than we could have otherwise,” Singh added. “Because of this, we can now go online in multiple other metro systems even more rapidly.”
Uber, which operates in more than 125 cities across India, has over 1.4 million monthly active drivers in the country, making it the company’s third-largest market. According to Uber’s chief technology officer, Praveen Neppalli Naga, the platform facilitated over a billion trips across India in 2024.
Uber saw its operating revenue in India grow by 41% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 to touch Rs 3,762 crore. The company managed to reduce its losses on the back of an improvement in its ride-hailing services and growth in its support and service operations.
DMRC recently partnered with ONDC, enabling commuters to book metro tickets through several consumer apps, including Rapido and Namma Yatri.
The mobility segment of ONDC has seen steady growth, alongside an increase in the logistics sector. In February, ONDC recorded 8.1 million transactions in the mobility category, marking a 47% rise from 5.5 million orders in October 2024.
“As a global platform, Uber’s initial enablement of metro ticketing and logistics unlocks new possibilities — from seamless multimodal journeys to unifying a fragmented logistics ecosystem,” said Vibhor Jain, acting CEO and COO at ONDC. Jain was appointed as the acting CEO last week following the resignation of former CEO T Koshy on April 9.
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