Online rickshaw aggregator Jugnoo forays into taxi biz

Moneycontrol Bureau Taxi aggregators Ola and Uber are inching towards stiff competition in the days ahead. Jugnoo, the auto-rickshaw aggregator, announced its entry into the taxi aggregation business on Sunday. Founded in late 2014 by a bunch of IITans, Jugnoo entered the market as an auto rickshaw aggregator.With its recent foray into hyperlocal businesses food and grocery delivery, Jugnoo aimed at being the market leader since its inception. The company was awaiting the right moment to enter into taxi aggregation business for some time. With prominent cab aggregators and its drivers at loggerheads, one can probably say Jugnoo took the right step at the right time."Jugnoo’s strategy to diversify its offerings and enter into the business vertical comes at a time when drivers are looking for an alternative to resolve their earnings and incentive issues," the company said in a press release.Launched as a pilot in Gurugram, Jugnoo intends to soon expand into other cities. Earlier in the day, Chinmay Agarwal, co-founder and COO of Jugnoo, told The Financial Express, “We at Jugnoo saw a vacuum in the taxi aggregation business in India. We analysed the issues faced by taxi drivers off late and have come up with a strategy to provide taxi services at prices where drivers do not work at artificially lower rates than their costs. At the moment, the existing players have not been able to balance this and therefore, we intend to fill in the gaps.”Beginning its operations in November 2014, Jugnoo saw stupendous growth and zoomed past 12,000 auto rickshaws in less than two and half years. The aggregator already operates in 40 cities.With leading cab aggregators facing revolt against decreasing incentives and rising demands to increase ride fares, it will be interesting to see what business strategy Jugnoo adopts.