Ola, Uber and Rapido Apply for Maharashtra Cab Licences; Bike Taxi Approval Also Sought in Pune
Pune, 5th September 2026: Six companies, including major ride-hailing platforms Ola, Uber and Rapido, have approached the Maharashtra transport department seeking licences to operate as cab aggregators under the state’s newly implemented aggregator policy.
State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said the department would not initiate punitive action against the companies’ current operations at this stage since they have submitted formal licence applications. The firms have been given three months to complete the documentation and meet the requirements prescribed under the policy.
Sarnaik said the applications would be assessed only after the companies submit the required documents within the stipulated period. Applications that fail to meet the policy conditions will be rejected.
Transport department officials said the companies are free to submit the documents at any point during the three-month period, although they have been advised to complete the process without unnecessary delay.
Apart from Ola, Uber and Rapido, the other applicants are M/s Komorebi Tech Solutions Private Limited, which operates Cityflo, M/s Shalini Cars, and Allmiles.
The transport department will scrutinise the documents submitted by each applicant against a prescribed checklist. Applications meeting the requirements will subsequently be forwarded to the State Transport Authority (STA) for a final decision.
Until the licensing process is completed, the companies can continue their existing operations. However, officials said an aggregator whose application is rejected will not be permitted to continue operating.
The state’s aggregator policy includes several operational and passenger-safety requirements. These include restrictions on the number of cabs that can be deployed in different cities, a real-time online monitoring mechanism for drivers, round-the-clock customer support, compulsory driver badges and a requirement that drivers receive at least 80% of the total fare collected.
In Pune, Uber and Rapido have separately sought permission to operate bike taxi services.
