Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah launched the cooperative-based mobility platform 'Bharat Taxi' for Gujarat at the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar. The platform commenced services across all major cities of Gujarat including Ahmedabad, Surat, and Rajkot, covering two-wheeler, auto, and four-wheeler categories.
Bharat Taxi operates on a cooperative model where drivers, referred to as 'Sarathis', are not merely service providers but shareholder-owners of the institution. More than 7 lakh Sarathis have joined the platform to date, with 37 lakh customers having already availed its services. The platform aims to provide respect, security, and prosperity to Sarathis while preventing exploitation that has been observed in private app-based taxi services, including issues such as excessive commission deductions, delayed payments, and arbitrary registration cancellations.
The initiative is backed by major cooperative institutions including NCDC, IFFCO, KRIBHCO, NDDB, NABARD, NCEL, and Amul, which have collectively decided to build this cooperative alternative in the mobility sector. These institutions provide the resource base and institutional support for the platform.
Expansion plans include reaching more than 500 cities and towns within the next one-and-a-half to two years. Specific cities mentioned for expansion include Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Kolkata. Services are scheduled to be available in seven major cities across India before 31 July 2026.
During the launch event, Bharat Taxi signed memorandums of understanding with several institutions to strengthen its operational reach: Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation, Gujarat State Cooperative Bank, Traffic Police, Ahmedabad Airport (Adani Airport), Western Railway–Ahmedabad Division, Vadodara Airport, Airports Authority of India (Rajkot and Surat), and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation/Bus Rapid Transit System. These partnerships will facilitate operations in areas related to airports, railways, metro, urban transport, and traffic management.
Minister Shah addressed competitive dynamics in the market, noting that some competing companies have temporarily reduced fares and increased commissions to Sarathis in response to Bharat Taxi's entry. He characterized this as an attempt to block Bharat Taxi's progress so that companies could eventually return to arbitrary practices. Shah asserted that Bharat Taxi would remain firmly in the market with a service-oriented approach and cooperative spirit, emphasizing that the platform represents a permanent institutional solution rather than relying solely on legislation.
The fundamental difference highlighted between Bharat Taxi and private companies is the treatment of drivers—private companies view them as drivers while Bharat Taxi treats them as respected partners ('Sarathis') and owners. The cooperative will support Sarathis with loans, insurance protection, and business expansion models, focusing on long-term security and stable income rather than short-term gains.