A day after international competitor Uber refuted claims of charging different prices for Android and Apple phones, Indian ride-hailing company Ola Consumer stated on Friday that it does not base fares on a user's phone model.
Following media reports and complaints that Apple users were charged more for the same ride than those using phones running Android operating systems, an Indian government consumer body headed by consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi sent notices to Ola and Uber on Thursday.
Minister Joshi warned the impacted companies that there would be "zero tolerance for consumer exploitation" and asked the CCPA to conduct a thorough investigation last month. He asserted that using differential pricing was a "blatant disregard" for consumers' rights.
"Based on the factors listed in the article below, it appears that the taxi aggregators are engaging in unfair trade practices by using differential pricing. If so, this is a flagrant violation of the right of consumers to know," he wrote on X.
In order to ascertain whether any similar issues were reported, the Union Minister also directed inquiries into other sectors, such as food delivery and online ticketing apps.
Last month, there was a lot of discussion on social media about taxi aggregators charging varying rates to their users, with the rates being higher for those who book their services on iPhones.
"We have a homogenous pricing structure for all our customers and we do not differentiate based on the operating system of the user's cellphone for identical rides," a representative from Ola Consumer explained.
"We have clarified the same to the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) today, and we will work with them to clear any misunderstanding in this regard."
