Trying to catch up with the growth of Uber.
By Raif Karerat
Follow @ambazaarmag
In the face of aggressive expansion from Uber, India’s Ola is taking its rivalry with the U.S.-based ride-hailing service to the next level after making its in-app payment service available within a slew of other apps and services.
According to a report by TechCrunch, “Ola Money,” the name for the wallet service that customers use to pay for their rides, can now be used to make purchases within eyeglass retailer Lenskart, budget hotel network OYO Rooms, music streaming service Saavn, hyperlocal marketplace Zopper, and others, while a partnership with digital finance company Zipcash provides the necessary regulatory compliance for money transfers and payments.
Indian authorities mandated taxi apps to switch to wallet-based systems last year, and now that Ola Money is accepted at other locations, the company may have just gained critical ground against Uber as the latter attempts to establish more of a foothold in India.
“We already offer cabs, food delivery and groceries services,†Rushil Goel, Head of Ola Money, told TechCrunch in an interview. “Over half of these transactions are [paid for] via Ola Money, so the idea is to enable more use cases for those customers, in terms of being able to use other merchants and not just our services.â€
The Ola Money extension — which the company said will also serve up discounts with third-party partners — is the second customer loyalty extension that Ola has introduced this past week, likely in response to Uber’s announcement that it will be investing $1 billion to expand and consolidate its Indian operations.
Last week, Uber’s chief competitor unveiled “Ola Select,” a program that grants its most active users a range of perks such as in-car WiFi.