Indian startup BluSmart poses challenge to Uber, Ola
India ridehailing market crucial for Uber
Uber slowly adding EVs, targets 25,000 cars in India
Many Uber, Ola drivers have joined Indian startup for better pay

NEW DELHI, April 19 Reuters Indian ridehailing startup BluSmart is seeking to challenge Uber and Ola for market share in the country with bets on an allelectric taxi fleet and an aggressive bid to lure disgruntled passengers and drivers from the incumbents.

A clean energy push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi39;s government is expected to significantly change India39;s transport industry in years ahead, with major implications for ridehailing firms.

For dominant players Uber and SoftBankbacked Ola, a full shift to electric vehicles EVs is likely to be a massive undertaking that would come as both companies struggle with driver retention and customer satisfaction issues.

As a new entrant, BluSmart is looking to seize the moment by beating its combustion enginepowered rivals on electrification, cleanliness and reliability through direct management of its fleet and drivers. For starters, drivers cannot cancel bookings received on their BluSmart app.

BluSmart has cracked quality of service with clean cars which are on time. Having your own fleet allows you to do that, said Jasmeet Khurana who leads a mobility decarbonisation initiative at the World Economic Forum WEF. It used the transition to electric to get its foot in the door.

BluSmart has also used…