New Delhi (ABC Live): India’s ride-hailing story is often told as a tale of big funding, algorithm-led pricing, and tough competition for city markets. In this dominant narrative, scale grows through subsidies. At the same time, labour shifts into gig-work. As a result, technology becomes the main tool of control.

However, this is only one part of the story.

In reality, beneath this visible layer of platform capitalism, a quieter and more grounded mobility economy is steadily taking shape.

The Invisible Backbone of Indian Mobility

Across Tier-II and Tier-III cities, highways, pilgrimage routes, industrial belts, and regional airports, millions of trips are still carried out by small fleet owners, family-run operators, and taxi unions.

In fact, these actors form the backbone of India’s intercity mobility system.
Yet, they rarely appear in mainstream technology debates.
Moreover, they continue to operate largely outside venture-funded platforms.

Therefore, any serious discussion on India’s mobility future must begin here.

Where Bharat Taxi Enters the Picture

It is within this setting that Bharat Taxi has built a distinct business model.

Instead of replacing local taxi businesses, Bharat Taxi has chosen to digitally connect them.
Likewise, rather than turning drivers into platform-controlled gig-workers, it treats them as partner-enterprises.
Moreover, instead of fighting mainly in metro intra-city markets, it focuses on intercity, airport, and long-distance routes.

Consequently, Bharat Taxi represents a cooperative mobility platform—one that competes for customers while also cooperating with local operators to build a national-scale supply.

A Platform Without Fleets, Yet National in Scale

In practical terms, Bharat Taxi does not own vehicles.
Similarly, it does not hire drivers.
Likewise, it does not run fleets.

Even so, it still operates a nationwide mobility marketplace.

Thus, scale is achieved not through ownership, but through federation.

Why This Model Matters

Therefore, the importance of this model goes beyond taxis.

More importantly, it offers a path to digitise India’s informal economy without breaking it.
At the same time, it shows that technology can organise micro-enterprises rather than replace them.
Finally, it raises a larger policy question:

Can India build digital platforms that grow at scale without recreating the labour precarity of the gig economy?

Why ABC Live Is Publishing This Report

First, Bharat Taxi is no longer just a private platform. Instead, it is emerging as a policy-backed cooperative experiment in digital mobility.

On 23 February 2026, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah described Bharat Taxi as a major cooperative movement, where drivers (“Sarathis”) are not only service providers but also shareholding partners.

Official PIB Release:
👉 https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2231721&reg=3&lang=1

Accordingly, key features include:

• ₹500 share purchase for Sarathis
• Sarathi seats on the Board
• 80% of earnings returned to Sarathis
• 20% kept as common capital
• Cooperative-bank loans and insurance
• Minimum base kilometre rate
• Grievance redressal window
• “Sarathi Didi” programme for women drivers

Thus, Bharat Taxi now sits at the meeting point of platform reform, cooperative renewal, and informal-economy digitisation.

What Is a Cooperative Mobility Platform?

Simply put, a cooperative mobility platform combines:

• Cooperation among operators to build scale, and

• Competition among those same operators for bookings.

As a result, Bharat Taxi works as a federated network of micro-enterprises, joined through a digital system.

Platform Capitalism vs Cooperative Mobility

In short, Bharat Taxi coordinates enterprises rather than controlling labour.

Structural Architecture: Federation Instead of Employment

At the core, Bharat Taxi runs on three layers:

1. Demand layer – app, website, call centre
2. Supply layer – local operators and fleet owners
3. Trust layer – verification and grievance support

Therefore, this model looks like digital wholesaling, not gig-employment.

Economic Logic: Asset-Light and Utilisation-Driven

Because Bharat Taxi avoids fleet ownership and heavy incentives, its model stays asset-light.

Hence, low commission works as retention support.

India’s Intercity Mobility Data Lens

Therefore, India’s largest mobility market is informal and intercity.

Comparison with Uber and Ola Cabs

Put simply, Uber and Ola chase platform control.
By contrast, Bharat Taxi builds network participation.

Developmental Impact: Digitisation Without Displacement

Thus, this is digitisation by usage, not force.

Governance Shift: Toward Platform Cooperative

Following Amit Shah’s policy guidance, Bharat Taxi is moving toward a state-aligned platform cooperative.

Accordingly, drivers move from users to co-owners.

Infrastructure Linkage: Aviation & Intercity Demand

ABC Live analysis on aviation reforms and ground mobility:
👉 https://abclive.in/2025/12/06/dgcas-fdtl-indigo/

As regional aviation expands, organised intercity taxi demand also rises.

 Strategic Risks

• Governance capture
• Execution complexity
• Service quality gaps
• Political exposure

Possibility Horizon

Over time, Bharat Taxi could become:

• National intercity booking backbone
• Multi-asset mobility exchange
• Cooperative-financed driver credit hub
• EV federation platform

Final Bottom Line

Ultimately, Bharat Taxi represents a third path in mobility:

A federated, shareholding-enabled, driver-owned digital marketplace
that links digital scale with cooperative ownership.