Ola

ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, the parent company of now multiple Ola-branded businesses, has hired Nuvoco Vistas Corp chief general counsel (GC) Sandeep Chowdhury as its new GC.

Former group general counsel (GC) of resources giant Vedanta Limited, Nitin Banerjee, has joined the Ola group, which is fast becoming a technology conglomerate, as its group GC.

An Ola cab driver has been arrested for molesting a judge, police said on Thursday.

The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to give more time to taxi operators in the National Capital Region (NCR) to switch from diesel to the cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG).

The deadline for the change, which has been extended twice, is Saturday.

A number of cab operators and their associations urged the court for an extension of the deadline, but a bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justice AK Sikri and Justice R Banumati refused the request.

The apex court had initially asked the diesel cab operators in the NCR to switch over to CNG by 1 March. That deadline was later extended to 31 March and then to 30 April.

The matter related to steps to be taken to curb alarming increase in air pollution in the national capital.

AZB & Partners advised former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin and his family on their acquisition of a minority stake in ANI Technologies which runs taxi app Ola. Ola was advised by IndusLaw.

AZB Delhi partner Anil Kasturin and senior associate Jaishree Tolani acted for Sarin who, as Mint reported, is joining Ola as an independent director.

Indus declined to comment but it is understood that Noida partner Gaurav Dani led the deal for Ola.

Founded in January 2011 by two IIT Bombay alumni, Ola currently plies over 20,000 vehicles in over 100 Indian cities, is backed by investors such as DST Global, GIC, Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Tiger Global Management LLC, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners, acquired rival TaxiForSure this year in a deal worth $200m, and is being investigated for predatory pricing allegations in the Competition Commission of India, even as the Delhi high court imposed a ban on it.

Taxi aggregators Uber and Ola cabs plan to get licenses to comply with latest government guidelines reported the Economic Times.

Since the two start-ups are not governed by the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 or any of the state acts on vehicles, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways last week released governing regulations for app-based taxi aggregators, reported Livemint.

The guidelines clarify that “IT-based aggregators” are different from traditional offline taxi operators and that state governments should formulate specific policies to regulate their licencing, compliance and liability. The guidelines, which are not binding but directive, also state that these aggregators should have a mandatory 24X7 call centre and a helpline number connecting to a grievance redressal officer.

The necessity of bringing these companies under law was first felt when a case of a Uber cab driver raping his client came up in 2014, after which uber was banned in Delhi. There have been a series of litigations at the Delhi high court regarding the legal status of the start ups like Uber and Ola.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday made it clear that it will allow to only CNG-based taxi vehicles to run in the national capital and asked Uber India to inform when it can replace the diesel cabs with these.

Taxi operator, under fire, fires back as Ola can’t seem to get a break...

The Delhi high court on Thursday said Ola cabs, an app-based taxi service, can run only on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel in the national capital.

Congress leader and senior lawyer P Chidambaram represented ANI technologies (Ola cabs) in the high court and promised that diesel-based vehicles of the taxi service will be taken off the roads within two weeks.

Respecting the court’s order, Ola Cabs on Thursday said: “We respect the orders and will continue to be committed to building mobility for a billion people.

“We have introduced a technology that will help distinguish CNG and diesel vehicles on its app, which will help the company keep track of the drivers’ compliance with the cleaner fuel norms in Delhi. It will also enable users to choose only CNG vehicles for usage within Delhi.

Meanwhile, another leading player, Meru Cab service has also introduced a new ride-sharing service, named “CarPool” for its customers across India.

In a release, Meru Cabs CEO Siddhartha Pahwa said the service will enable personal vehicle owners and city commuters to reduce their daily travel costs, get an opportunity to meet new people and simplify their commute in safe and secured environment.