Green SM’s entry into Delhi-NCR is more than another cab-service launch. It is a test of whether an electric mobility company can make a controlled fleet work in a market shaped by low fares, independent drivers, high utilisation and intense competition among aggregators. The Vietnamese company has begun operations with about 1,000 electric vehicles and plans to scale to 10,000 in the region, while deliberately targeting a premium segment rather than immediately matching the mass-market proposition of Uber and Ola.
That positioning gives Green SM India a distinctive place in the evolution of urban taxi services. The company is not simply adding another app to an established marketplace. It is bringing back a model in which the operator has greater control over the vehicles, drivers, maintenance and customer experience. At the same time, it is adapting that model to electric mobility, where charging access, vehicle utilisation and after-sales support are as important to the business as the booking platform.
Green SM Limo launched in Delhi-NCR on June 5, according to the supplied report. Its first Indian vehicle is the VinFast Limo Green, a seven-seat electric multi-purpose vehicle designed for commercial passenger transport. Green SM India CEO Bach Tuan Anh said at the launch that the company saw room for a niche, premium segment in Delhi-NCR. The strategy therefore depends on customers choosing consistency, vehicle quality and a cleaner ride even when lower-cost alternatives are available.
The company’s decision reflects a recurring shift in India’s ride-hailing market. Earlier radio-taxi operators such as Meru and Mega Cabs built businesses around metered fares, trained drivers and a known vehicle service. The smartphone-led arrival of Ola in 2011 and Uber in 2013 changed the operating model. Ride-hailing companies no longer needed to own every vehicle; they needed technology, drivers, customers and enough capital to build network density.
The result was a marketplace model in which supply could expand through independent vehicle owners and drivers. That reduced the need for platforms to carry the full cost of vehicle ownership, although it also made service consistency harder to control. The supplied report cites an estimate from Grand View Research that India’s ride-hailing services market generated $2.5 billion in revenue in 2025, with e-hailing accounting for the largest segment.
Green SM is challenging that dominant structure with a company-controlled fleet. The approach offers a direct answer to some of the weaknesses of aggregator-led services. A single operator can set vehicle standards, train drivers, manage maintenance and coordinate the customer experience. It may also reduce the variability that passengers encounter when vehicles and drivers are supplied by a dispersed network.
But those benefits come with a heavier balance-sheet burden. A fleet operator must carry the cost of cars, drivers, charging, maintenance and periods when vehicles are not earning revenue. The economics depend not only on the number of bookings but also on how continuously the vehicles are used. An electric fleet adds another operational requirement: vehicles must be charged reliably and quickly enough to remain available during periods of high demand.
This is where BluSmart provides the most relevant Indian precedent. The electric-cab company operated a dedicated fleet and became known for predictable fares, clean vehicles, professional drivers and fewer cancellations. Reuters reported that BluSmart had built a fleet of more than 8,000 electric taxis and held about 9% of the Delhi market before suspending operations in April 2025.
The company’s shutdown followed regulatory action involving Gensol Engineering and co-founder Anmol Singh Jaggi. BluSmart subsequently appointed Grant Thornton for a forensic audit, according to the supplied report. The episode demonstrated both the attraction and the exposure of the fleet-owned model. Customers can value a controlled electric service, but the operator must fund and manage a much larger part of the system than a conventional aggregator does.
Green SM enters with a potentially important institutional advantage: its close relationship with VinFast and the wider Vingroup ecosystem. Green SM was established in 2023 by Pham Nhat Vuong, the founder and chairman of Vingroup and the driving force behind VinFast. Although the two companies are separate, Green SM says its Indian vehicles are procured through VinFast-authorised dealers and that it coordinates with VinFast on maintenance, after-sales support and technical matters.
The companies are also working with V-Green, a Vingroup-linked charging infrastructure company, and local partners on charging infrastructure. This arrangement connects the taxi operation to an automotive and charging ecosystem rather than leaving the fleet operator to build every capability independently. For Green SM, that may help address the practical requirements of keeping electric vehicles on the road. For VinFast, a large institutional customer can place its vehicles in daily public use and increase their visibility among potential buyers.
The relationship also changes the way Green SM’s market entry should be understood. It is not only a mobility service seeking passengers. It is part of a broader electric-vehicle ecosystem in which fleet deployment, vehicle supply, charging and after-sales support are closely connected. The supplied report says Green SM rejects the suggestion that it is primarily a sales channel for VinFast, but the operational link between the companies remains central to the strategy described in India.
The premium positioning is equally significant. The dominant aggregator model trained many urban customers to compare fares and prioritise availability. A premium electric service must persuade them to value other attributes, including vehicle space, consistency, professional service and the environmental identity of an electric ride. The seven-seat VinFast Limo Green gives Green SM a product distinction, but a differentiated vehicle alone cannot guarantee sufficient utilisation.
Delhi-NCR is a particularly demanding test because the company must build density across a large and varied urban region. A fleet can provide a more predictable customer experience only when enough vehicles are available in the places and time windows where demand occurs. If the fleet is too small, waiting times rise. If it is too large relative to bookings, utilisation falls and the fixed cost of ownership becomes harder to absorb.
The planned expansion from about 1,000 vehicles to 10,000 therefore represents more than a numerical growth target. It would require charging infrastructure, maintenance capacity, driver recruitment, operating discipline and sustained passenger demand at a much larger scale. The supplied material does not establish the timetable, financing structure or performance thresholds for that expansion. Those details will matter in assessing whether the launch is a viable transport operation or an ecosystem-building exercise supported by a larger automotive strategy.
The institutional question is also important. Aggregators distribute responsibility across platforms, drivers and vehicle owners. A controlled fleet concentrates responsibility within the operator. That can make accountability clearer when service fails, but it also means that operational or financial problems can affect the entire network more quickly. BluSmart’s experience shows that an electric cab company can build a recognisable customer proposition and substantial fleet before facing serious disruption.
For Delhi-NCR passengers, the immediate impact is likely to be a new choice in the electric-cab market rather than a complete change in the city’s mobility system. Green SM’s premium focus places it alongside, rather than directly inside, the mass-market contest dominated by aggregators. Its ability to retain customers will depend on whether the service can combine dependable availability with pricing that passengers consider justified.
Green SM’s launch therefore revives an old question in a new technological form: should urban taxi services be built as marketplaces or as managed fleets? India’s first disruption favoured asset-light aggregation because it created supply and demand density quickly. The electric transition makes the question more complicated. Control over vehicles and charging can improve reliability, but it also increases the costs that the operator must manage every day.
The evidence currently confirms that Green SM has entered Delhi-NCR with a controlled electric fleet, a premium positioning and links to the VinFast and V-Green ecosystem. It also confirms that BluSmart’s earlier fleet-based experiment ended after regulatory and corporate difficulties, leaving a clear precedent but not a simple verdict on the model. The next phase to watch is whether Green SM can convert vehicle control and ecosystem support into high utilisation, dependable charging and repeat demand as it attempts to expand towards 10,000 vehicles.
