With the boom of on-demand taxi services in India and the increasing number of apps and options, consumers are left juggling between various apps – first checking for availability at their location, then comparing prices (Indian consumers are extremely price conscious after all) and then finally being able to book the cab, that is if it hasn’t disappeared already.
To solve this cumbersome issue, seven-year-old travel search engine, ixigo.com, has launched a new app called ixigo Cabs which shows the availability and fares across various taxi service providers and car rental companies.
A user can book a cab from any of the cab operators and also interestingly it also lets one book cabs from offline cab providers.
Scoot is also one such app working on similar lines. The app aggregates taxi service providers and then takes users to the desired app based on preference. While Scoot only allows users to book cabs from app hailing cab providers including Uber, Ola, TFS, Bookmycab among others, ixigo app also allows users to book cab from offline cab providers. It currently allows users to browse through and choose from over 250+ offline taxi providers (local taxi & cab providers) in over 100 cities.
While ixigo cabs app is only aggregating fares and availability, Scoot app also provides users the ability to check the best available offers across the available taxi providers.
Ixigo cabs also lets users to get the fare breakup for rides and currently has Ola, TFS, Meru, among others. Interestingly, we couldn’t find Uber on its platform.
The market size of the cab booking industry in India is estimated to be roughly INR 14000 Cr., thus providing room for various players in this segment.
Rumours have it that Ixigo is in talks of raising a new $25 Mn round, which is expected to close by this year’s end. In 2011, SAIF Partners bought 56.7% in ixigo.com, while online travel booking firm MakeMyTrip India Pvt. Ltd picked up 19.9%.
