'Bharat Taxi' to expand to 500 cities in two years: Amit Shah

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched Bharat Taxi, India’s cooperative ride-hailing platform, at the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar, announcing plans to expand the service to 500 cities and towns across the country within the next two years.The platform, which was soft-launched in Gujarat in December 2025 and later rolled out in the Delhi-NCR region in February 2026, is currently operational across Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Built on the principle of‘Saarthi Hi Maalik’ (the driver is the owner), Bharat Taxi aims to create a driver-owned digital mobility ecosystem by providing economic empowerment, social security and ownership opportunities to taxi drivers through a cooperative model.
Speaking at the launch event, Shah said Bharat Taxi represents a transformative step in the cooperative sector and is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ (prosperity through cooperation). He said the platform will ensure drivers, referred to as Sarathis, become direct stakeholders while passengers benefit from safe, transparent and affordable mobility services.Shah said the cooperative model would allow drivers to retain a larger share of their earnings and criticised existing app-based taxi aggregators, alleging that many platforms charge high commissions, delay payments and suspend driver accounts without adequate justification.

#WATCH | Gandhinagar, Gujarat | At the launch of 'Bharat Taxi,' a cooperative-based taxi service, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, "... The primary reason for its inception is to ensure that neither our 'sarathi' nor our customers face any form of exploitation. Secondly, the… pic.twitter.com/Nl32dVSgAC

— ANI (@ANI) June 27, 2026

Referring to competition in the ride-hailing sector, the Home Minister said some established platforms are operating at losses to counter the cooperative initiative but expressed confidence that Bharat Taxi would emerge as a strong alternative in India’s mobility landscape.Highlighting the success of the Amul cooperative movement, Shah said Bharat Taxi reflects the same cooperative spirit by promoting collective ownership and empowering drivers as partners rather than service providers.
The platform has already gained significant traction in Gujarat, with more than 1.5 lakh Sarathis and over 7 lakh customers joining the service. Nationwide, Bharat Taxi has registered more than 7 lakh drivers and 37 lakh customers, with over 3,500 rides being completed daily.Initially, Bharat Taxi will operate in 14 major cities of Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Dwarka, Somnath, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar, before expanding across the state within the next month.
The launch event was attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, senior state ministers, Ministry of Cooperation Secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani, representatives of cooperative institutions and more than 4,000 Bharat Taxi Sarathis. During the programme, outstanding drivers received share certificates, reinforcing the cooperative ownership model, while several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were also exchanged.
According to information,Bharat Taxi has been developed by Sahkar Taxi Cooperative Limited with support from eight major cooperative institutions, including NCDC, Amul, NDDB, NAFED, IFFCO, KRIBHCO, NABARD and NCEL. Registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, the platform follows a zero-commission model, enabling drivers to retain their earnings while providing access to insurance, loans, pension benefits and government social security schemes.For passengers, the platform offers bike, auto and cab services with surge-free pricing and safety features developed in collaboration with Gujarat Police. The government plans to take Bharat Taxi to all states and major cities in the coming years, creating a nationwide cooperation-based mobility network integrated with India’s digital public infrastructure.

(State Correspondent)