Parliament Question: Launching of Bharat Taxi

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3944 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 MARCH 2026 Launching of Bharat Taxi 3944. Shri Brijmohan Agrawal: Will the Minister of COOPERATION (सहकारिता मंत्री) be pleased to state: (a) the details of "Bharat Taxi"; (b) the manner the amalgamation of major national cooperatives represent a shift from the traditional "driver-partner" model of private aggregators to a "Sarathi-owner" model; (c) the manner this model ensure the prosperity of the "Sarathis" while maintaining the expansion and viability of the cooperative; (d) the details of the "Sarathi Didi" feature of the Bharat Taxi including the manner this specific initiative address the dual challenges of women’s employment in the transport sector and the safety concerns of solo female passengers; (e) the details of the key cities under "Bharat Taxi", city-wise data and the plan for future expansions in cities like Raipur, Bilaspur, Jagdalpur etc.; (f) the number of App downloads that have been recorded till date for Bharat Taxi App & Bharat Taxi Driver on across all platforms; and (g) whether the Government is planning to introduce the tip feature for the Sarathis, if so, the details thereof ANSWER THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH) (a), (b) & (c) The Ministry of Cooperation is committed to empowering cooperatives as instruments of employment generation, social security and grassroots economic participation. Bharat Taxi is envisaged as a transformative intervention in the mobility sector by placing drivers—referred to as Sarathis—at the centre of ownership, governance, and value creation, thereby offering a sustainable and dignified alternative to aggregator-driven models. “Bharat Taxi” is India’s first cooperative-led ride-hailing platform. This is a major milestone in theGovernment of India’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the cooperative sector and promote inclusive, citizen-centric mobility solutions, in line with the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’. Registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, Bharat Taxi was established on 6 June 2025 by 8 national level institutions working in field of cooperatives and officially launched on 5th February, 2026. Bharat Taxi is a transition from the conventional “driver-partner” model to a “Sarathi-owner” model wherein drivers can become owner of the cooperative society, have representation in Board of Management and participate in profit sharing. The Bharat Taxi platform operates on zero-commission model, with direct distribution of profits to drivers, offering a homegrown and indigenous alternative to investment-driven aggregator platforms. Bharat Taxi has transparent fare structure, a user-friendly mobile ride-booking interface, real-time vehicle tracking, and support for multilingual interfaces, along with 24/7 customer support to enable sarathis to participate in cooperative ownership while ensuring sustainable growth of the platform. (d) Bharat Taxi has launched women-focused ‘Sarthi Didi’ feature to encourage women’s employment as drivers and enhance safety for women passengers by facilitating women to hire women-driven taxi options besides incorporating safety features like SOS, live location tracking and dedicated 24*7 customer support. (e) As of now the Bharat Taxi service is functional in Delhi NCR – Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Somnath & Dwarka of Gujarat. Bharat Taxi targets to expand its service in a phased manner across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities offering services upto tehsil levels across the country over the next three years. (f) As on 1st March, 2026, Bharat Taxi has 21.34 lakh registered users and 2.31 lakh registered Sarathis (g) Bharat Taxi is exploring several passenger engagement features for driver welfare including the possibility of a voluntary tipping option for Sarathis within the application. ******