Uber has almost always been involved in bruising battles for market share in all countries in which it has entered over the past few years. However, things seem to have taken an ugly turn in India for the American taxi hailing giant. The latest development is related to a Case from 2014 when an Uber driver raped a passenger in India's capital.
Ola reacts to Uber's insinuation
Uber had cooperated with the Indian law enforcements authorities with regards to the investigation. However, some new details have now emerged which indicates that an executive of the company believed that the company's main competitor was involved in an elaborate scheme to embarrass Uber.
Businesses in India often use shady tactics to corner market share and most of those would not be known to American executives.
A report on the American tech website Recode stated that the Uber executive, Eric Alexander, who was in charge of the company's business in Asia Pacific at the time, believed that the whole incident was an elaborate plot staged by their competitor Ola, in order to hurt the company's image in India. Recode got the information from sources who were close to the executive at the time. Ola had no other option but to react to the allegations as soon as they could. This past week has been a tough one for Uber as they fire in excess of 20 employees in their offices in American following a thorough probe into allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace.
(I have added some American context to this by stating the difference of corporate culture between the two countries and how an American start-up is faring in a 3rd world country. Also added, the recent troubles of Uber in the US with respect to sexual harassment claims in order to make it relatable)
A stinging response
Ola and Uber have been tussling for supremacy in the multi-billion dollar Indian taxi hailing market over the past few years and hence it was only natural that the response would be a stinging one.
In a strongly worded statement, Ola expressed dismay that a crime as horrific as rape could be trivialized in this fashion by Uber and also stated that 'it is despicable that anyone can even conceive an attempt to malign competition using this as an opportunity.'
However, the statement also added that if the reports are true then the only conclusion to draw is that Uber as a company is 'low on morality'.
The response is an astonishing one considering the fact that the Tavis Kalanick headed company has never officially remarked that it believes that Ola was in any way involved in an act of sabotage. The company's head for the country stated that they have cooperated with the authorities throughout the investigation and did everything in Uber's power to bring the guilty driver to justice.
