Uber - the taxi booking app has run into some serious trouble in the country. The other radio tax providers of India have complained that the app is violating the Indian laws. The San Francisco based startup was also caught in a similar controversy in the United States and Europe sometime ago.
In a complaint filed to the Reserve Bank of India, the Indian radio taxi providers which include Mega Cab, Meru Cab and Easy cabs, have alleged that the San Francisco based startup has involved into some Foreign exchange violations.
According to The Association of Radio Taxis, the American firm, which is also among the fastest growing startups in the world, is in gross violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the RBI mandate on credit card transactions in the country.
Uber is backed by Google and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and is currently valued at some $ 18 billion (approx Rs.1.1 lakh crore).
There is a great amount of fear and competition among the taxi drivers all around the globe as the American firm is growing at a pace that they couldn’t ever imagine. The taxi drivers have also complained that the San Francisco based stores credit card details on its system.
According to the complaint, Uber is not following the two stage credit card authentication mandated by the Reserve Bank of India. It is doing so by using an international payment gateway.
According to the complaint, once a customer makes use of the Uber taxi service, the firm takes the full payment from the passenger which is then routed in a foreign currency to Uber BV, which is based in Netherlands. Uber later remits back around 80% money to the driver’s Indian account. This is done through wire transfer from the United Sates based Wells Fargo Bank.
The association of Radio Taxis in its complaint also alleges that the payment should not be carried out through an international payment gateway since the American firm is just a facilitator for the transaction to be carried out between the customer and drivers, who are both citizens of India and two Indian citizens, cannot do business in a foreign currency.
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