Media reports claim that Zoomcar’s CEO and co-founder, Greg Moran sees a lot of opportunities for the car and bicycle rental firm in the Indian state of Rajasthan known for its tourism. The company has a presence in over 30 cities across the country.
Moran was in India to participate in the Rajasthan Digifest 2018. He has pointed out that the thriving tourism in Rajasthan is the reason the company is interested in tourism.
“Udaipur is a very strong market for us. It is a tier-II city. It is not a major metro but it has done very well,”
Moran added.
Moran seemed enthusiastic about the startup scenario in India and said that they are growing at a fast pace.
“I have been in India for about five-and-a-half years. I shifted in 2012, when a startup was kind of a foreign word and now you fast forward 5-6 years and see today is a great example. It has really electrified the whole space,”
he said.
Last month, Mahindra & Mahindra had said that it would invest up to Rs 176 crore in Zoomcar India and Zoomcar Inc, its US incorporated holding parent company.
About Zoomcar India
Self-drive car rental start-up Zoomcar India is a fully owned subsidiary of US-based Zoomcar Inc.
Moran launched the company in 2014 along with David Back – his friend from the University of Pennsylvania. The company offers users cars for self-driving on rent. It doesn’t own the inventory but aggregates cabs.
However, according to Moran doing business in India has not been an easy task.
“THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT IS VERY CHALLENGING FOR OUR BUSINESS. THE PROCESS OF REGISTRATION OF CARS IS REALLY PAINSTAKING AND TEDIOUS… THAT’S WHAT WE ARE FOCUSED ON STREAMLINING. SO MOST OF OUR ENERGY AND INVESTMENT TIME AND MONEY GOES INTO RECTIFYING THOSE PROCESSES,”
Moran explained.
The company that currently has around 3,000 cars claims that India as a market has an appetite for at least one lakh cars for the self-driving purpose.
Moran also added,
“YOU HAVE AFFORDABILITY ISSUES IN INDIA. AUTOMOTIVES ARE ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE GOODS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. FINANCE WISE, INDIA HAS EXORBITANTLY HIGH INTEREST. YOU HAVE AN EXTREMELY INHOSPITABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR OWNERSHIP IN INDIA.”
The self-drive car rental segment also has about 20 odd startups including JustRide and Revv, among others. However, Zoomcar claims to own over 70 percent market share.
Zoomcar has also launched PEDL, a technology-enabled cycle sharing service. It expects the segment to contribute a significant percentage of its revenue in 2018.
It also has plans to expand to South-East Asia. The CEO said,
“WE WILL BE IN INDONESIA, THE PHILIPPINES ALL THESE COUNTRIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, OVER THE NEXT YEAR… THOSE MARKETS ARE VERY STRONG THEY DON’T HAVE ANY PLAYER.”
Also Read: China’s Cycle Sharing Startup Ofo Bikes Considers India As Its Next Big Market
