India's biggest online taxi aggregator, Ola Cabs, has signed a pact with the Andhra Pradesh government to invest Rs 150 crore to expand its presence in the state.
The Bengaluru-based firm will spend the outlined amount to increase the number of vehicles on its platform in the state by 40,000 in three years. Currently, the country's third most valuable venture-backed company has more than 10,000 vehicles on its platform in AP.
Ola claims to have 80% of the market share in the country after acquiring TaxiForSure in March this year. The company expects to clock 1,000,000 trips a day from the current 750,000 trips. It also plans to expand its services to about 200 smaller towns and cities in the country.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the State, the taxi-hailing firm "will enable technology to bring support to ensure smart, reliable and safe transportation in the cities."
"Our vision is to create a smart and modern Andhra Pradesh and technology advancement is going to be extremely important to make this possible. Transportation is one of the most important areas where technology can make a big difference," Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, told Business Line.
Mobile transportation apps like Ola can play a key role in generating thousands of jobs for the people in the State and offer "timely and efficient transportation" for all, he said.
Separately, official data showed that the State grew by 9.2% in the first quarter of this fiscal against India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.1%.
