With an aim to offer reliable mobility in smaller towns and cities, Ola has launched its e-rickshaw service today in Delhi-NCR. The first Ola E-rickshaw was booked by PM Narendra Modi on Ola’s mobile application.

The service was launched by PM Narendra Modi at the ‘Stand Up India’ initiative which is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship. Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC), an NGO focused on financial aid for E-Rickshaws will distribute 5,100 E-Rickshaws at the event that will be deployed across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.

This will be further scaled up in the coming months to more small towns and Tier III cities. Each of the e-rickshaw operators will get a smartphone to connect to the Ola app and the customer and the base fare will start at Rs 8.

These E-rickshaws involve lower human effort compared to pulled rickshaws and will give existing rickshaw pullers, the opportunity to enhance their skills and become driver-entrepreneurs and access to consistent demand through the Ola app on their smartphones. Apart from employment, Ola and BMC will also set up and run skill development centers in these towns to enable continuous skilling and training for thousands of rickshaw driver-entrepreneurs.

Speaking on the occasion, Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer at Ola said,

It’s an honour to support PM Modi’s ‘Stand-up India’ initiative aimed at empowering thousands of e-rickshaw driver-partners, with innovative micro-entrepreneurship solutions and technology platform. Economic growth, rapid urbanization and environmental concerns are driving the need for innovative mobility solutions across the country. The transportation needs of users in smaller towns and sustainable alternatives for cycle rickshaw pedallers will be solved for with the introduction of e-rickshaws on the Ola app, which are affordable, environment friendly and convenient to hail. We believe this will touch the lives of hundreds of millions of citizens as well as the livelihoods of millions of driver entrepreneurs, taking us closer to our mission of mobility for a billion people.

Proud to launch e ricks on @Olacabs by @narendramodi. Building mobility for a billion Indians! #madeforindia pic.twitter.com/zbz8YgiXpv — Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) April 5, 2016

Will also flag-off 5100 e-rickshaws under MUDRA Yojana & interact with beneficiaries, besides inaugurating a Kaushal Vikas Kendra in Noida. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 5, 2016

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