Accordingly Cab aggregators Ola and Uber have been under a lot of criticism for manipulating fares and indulging in unfair trade practices. Meanwhile the companies got a clean chit from the country’s competition watchdog the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Furthermore delivering a 13 page order CCI has rejected allegations against them leveled by an individual.
Furthermore the two main charges leveled against the ride-share taxi operators were that they were in collusion among themselves and the drivers and charged fares which amounted to price cartelization and that they were imposing a resale price maintenance system and CCI has rejected both these charges.
Moreover on the technical aspect of resale price maintenance, CCI has said there should be evidence of some kind of floor price being fixed and maintained by the service provider to be charged under the competition laws. Hence the Commission did not find any such evidence in the case of Uber and Ola of any floor price being fixed; on the other hand, CCI has pointed out that on occasions the fares go down much below the normal rates any taxi driver would have charged for the same distance or trip. Further in conclusion, the CCI’s order states that “existence of an agreement, understanding or arrangement that demonstrates meeting of minds, is a sine qua non for establishing a contravention under Section 3 of the Act” and that in its view, no such agreement exists and therefore, the charges stand rejected.
