Uber’s Cash Cow Grazes Across India

While it was announced just last week that Uber has picked a payment processor to help it resume card payments, that doesn’t mean Uber has given up on its efforts to allow people in India to pay for an Uber in cash.

After all, in a country like India, cash is still very much king.

Uber first announced in May that it was rolling out its cash payments trial in Hyderabad, but now that option is expanding to four more cities. Those cities are: Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Kochi. They join the list of cities like New Delhi that allows Uber users to pay via cash for a rickshaw ride that’s hailed using Uber.

“We know that cash is a dominant payment options for millions in India, especially in small cities,” Bhavik Rathod, general manager of Uber Bangalore, told TechCrunch. “This [pilot] is part of our investment in India, we’re deeply committed to this country.”

With India’s cash-driven economy, it’s easy to assume that Uber has seen an increase in usage due to adding cash as an option but Uber hasn’t broken down the specifics of how many of its rides are cash versus credit card. Rathod did comment that the response has been “tremendous” to the cash option, but didn’t go into more details.

“Drivers and riders have always been carrying cash, so we had to understand their behavior and assess which tech could support this,” Rathod said in the interview.

Outside of traditional credit card payment options, Uber has also recently expanded its partnership with PayPal to bring the in-app payment option to Uber in nine countries.

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