Vietnamese electric taxi company Green SM is set to enter Bengaluru’s ride-hailing market by the end of November or early December after receiving an aggregator licence from Karnataka’s transport department, while a section of cab drivers has raised questions about vehicle compliance, pricing and livelihoods.
Senior transport department officials said Green SM had secured the licence under the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, after fulfilling the prescribed requirements. The company is the electric mobility arm of Vietnam-based conglomerate Vingroup.
The planned launch will add another operator to a market already served by Ola, Uber, Rapido and Namma Yatri. Green SM’s operating model will differ from that of conventional aggregators, which generally connect passengers with drivers using their own vehicles. The company plans to deploy its own fleet of electric cars and employ drivers to operate them.
The proposed entry has prompted objections from representatives of a section of Bengaluru’s cab driver community. Union members have approached officials with concerns over the company’s pricing, vehicle-related requirements and the possible effect of its operations on existing drivers’ earnings.
K Somashekar, a union leader, alleged that Green SM had obtained permission from the Kasturinagar Regional Transport Office to operate 100 vehicles but had brought around 5,000 vehicles to Electronics City for its Bengaluru operations. He questioned whether the company was complying with the vehicle and driver requirements prescribed under the aggregator rules.
The allegation has not been independently established in the material available for this report. The transport department officials cited in the report confirmed the aggregator licence, while the concerns regarding the number of vehicles and compliance were raised by the union representative.
Green SM’s proposed fleet-based electric taxi model places the regulatory focus not only on aggregator licensing but also on how vehicles, drivers and operating locations are verified. The company’s launch timeline and the scale of its deployment will determine how the new service is integrated into Bengaluru’s existing ride-hailing system.
The company is expected to begin services in Bengaluru by late November or early December, according to the report. The transport department’s licensing framework and any response to the union’s concerns will shape the next stage of the launch.
