Uber faces new challenge; unhappy drivers take to streets in Hyderabad

Ride-share services firm Uber is facing a new challenge in India, even as it still struggles to shrug off the security concerns following the unsavoury Delhi episode.

Discontented drivers have taken to the streets in Hyderabad, protesting the company’s failure to meet the ‘commitments’ it made and reducing the quantum of incentives.

Uber denies making any commitments and argues that majority of the drivers on the network are happy and making good money. Scores of drivers, who have been organising protests over the last three days in Hyderabad, do not subscribe to this view.

“They held roadshows across the IT hubs to attract drivers. Those who are earning about ₹10,000 a month were enticed by the attractive business a driver can make a month,” Telangana Cabs and Bus Operators Association President Syed Nizamuddin told

BusinessLine . Nizamuddin and a few others observed a day-long hunger strike on Friday at the Dharna Chowk against the company’s refusal to honour its commitments. He claimed that it promised a monthly income of up to ₹70,000, including the incentives. “Some of them have actually received that kind of amount for a couple of months. As the word spread, hundreds of drivers left their jobs and took personal loans to buy their own cars, attracted by the offers,” he said.

He alleged that as the firm expanded its network (over 10,000 drivers) they began to get fewer rides and incomes fell.

Uber gives 80 per cent of the business it generates from a trip to the driver, keeping 20 per cent for itself. Apart from the income from rides, drivers are offered ‘incentives’. It ranges from ₹7,000 for keeping the app alive for 40 hours a week to ₹15,000 for 80 hours.

“They reduced this amount without any intimation. Now they are even asking us to pay ₹300 for internet connectivity,” a driver said on condition of anonymity.

The Uber executive said that some drivers are abusing the system to get the incentives. “Some of them are keeping the app live at unearthly hours in order to complete the hours. What we are saying is that one must keep the app alive for at least 50 per cent of the stipulated time in peak hours,” Siddharth Shanker, General Manager of Uber (Hyderabad), told BusinessLine .

“We are charging ₹300 a week from those who bought the handphone from us,” he explained.

The protesting drivers, however, are in no mood to relent. “We are going to meet the Chief Minister, Transport Minister and Transport Commissioner on Monday to ask them to resolve the issue,” Nizamuddin said.