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Ola and Uber drivers allege their earnings are not enough for them to make ends meet Do you use Ola and Uber for your daily commute? If yes, you may want to find other modes of transport as Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has called for an indefinite strike of drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola starting Monday midnight. The strike, which will be observed in key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, aims to voice the drivers’ woes of not being able to cover rising costs due to falling business. They are currently being paid Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per month, according to media reports. “Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 500,000 to Rs 700,000 and were expecting to make Rs 150,000 a month. But drivers are unable to make even half of this because of the mismanagement by these companies,” said Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena, repor...

Firm denies charges, says will find anonymous author, bring her to justice In an anonymous post on   Medium , a person calling herself an ex-employee of   The Viral Fever   accused TVF founder and chief executive Arunabh Kumar of molesting her. TVF is backed by Tiger Global. She accused Kumar of multiple sexual advances, and said she was asked to walk out when she complained to her bosses at TVF. She added that complaints made to co-workers got cold answers and, in one instance, someone laughed off the matter. In a Facebook post, independent contractor Reema Sengupta said she, too, was a victim of Kumar’s inappropriate overtures during a shoot. In a comment on the   Medium   post, “ex-TVF employee” Aayushi Agarwal said she too had a similar experience. The post titled 'The Indian Uber - That is TVF' looks to be modelled on ex-Uber employee Susan Fowler's post alleging sexual harassment at the US-based company. Fowler's claims are now being investigated...

Ola shuts down TaxiForSure business; lays off 700 employees India’s largest taxi aggregator, Ola, has shut down its   TaxiForSure   (TFS) business and has laid off 700 employees in the process, as it looks to consolidate its presence and reduce   cash burn   to fend off an attack from Uber. Ola   had acquired smaller rival TFS in March 2015 for $200 million to help it maintain market leadership against Uber. While Ola had said it would maintain TaxiForSure as an independent entity, the company soon began moving drivers from TFS to its own platform. The Economic Times newspaper first reported this story on Wednesday. Ola declined to comment on the story. While the TFS   Android   app was still functional, apart from the Ola Micro category, which the company cross-sells, no cabs were available in the Nano, Hatchback and Sedan categories. Since the acquisition, Ola has been pursuing drivers on TFS to join its own platform. Apart from cross-s...

Uber set to merge Chinese business with Didi Chuxing: Report In a move that marks the end of intense rivalry in the ride-hailing market in China,   Uber Technologies will merge its Chinese business with   Didi Chuxing , news agency   Bloomberg reported on Monday. Didi is the dominant app-based taxi aggregator in the country. The valuation of the combined entity is $35 billion, the report added, citing people familiar with the development. As per the new structure, investors in   Uber China   — a company owned by Uber and other investors — will have 20% stake in the merged firm. Meanwhile, Didi will be making an investment of $1 billion in Uber at a valuation of $68 billion. “As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart,” Travis Kalanick, chief executive officer of Uber, wrote in a blog post What happens next? (Read More)

Bengaluru pips Tokyo, Tel Aviv in list of innovation hubs India has emerged as a new innovation ‘empire’ of choice by global corporates. Bengaluru - the information technology and start-up hub – has surpassed many global cities as a preferred destination for innovation centres, according to Capgemini’s study on ‘Innovation Empire’. Bengaluru that has emerged as the fifth most preferred location for housing innovation centres, overtook Tokyo, Shanghai, Berlin,  Tel Aviv , Munich and Chicago, said the report titled ‘Digital Dynasties: The Rise of Innovation Empires Worldwide’. In the previous report that captured data until July 2015, Bengaluru did not figure in the list of top 10 cities. The report said Silicon Valley was no longer the hub for corporate innovation, as global enterprises were seeking talent pools beyond established hubs. Between July 2015 and February 2016, four global enterprises set up their innovation centres in Bengaluru, the highest in Asia. During t...