India considers commissions cap for Uber, Ola, unsettling industry

That is a pretty arrogant and very Indian thing to say.

1) It’s not tourists or foreigners taking advantage of other Indians - it is Indians. Indian people disrespect and mistreat each other to an extend I have never seen anywhere else in the world. 2) It is not tourists who set the prices for taxi meters - it’s the Indian cities or governments; yet it is Indian cab drivers who often believe they stand above the Law and can take advantage of tourists because “they can afford it” 3) Nobody argues about rickshaws not doing a difficult job and I NEVER heard a tourist complain about the prices of rickshaw dwellers - only fellow Indians 4) It’s not tourists but Indians that pretend inflation doesn’t exist; tourists generally overpay

Yes, we “rich foreign tourists” can afford to pay 10USD for a ride across town; but it’s not the same deal as riding in an actually safe vehicle with seatbelts and a driver passing an actual driving license in Europe or the US; taking these aspects into account the 10 USD trips are a rip off

Yes, countries can continue to take advantage of tourists, squeeze them as much as they can and justify that with the “they can afford it”. I will never travel to India again unless I HAVE to for business purposes - because I am just tired of it. There are a million cleaner places on earth - with people being more honest. Yes, in other Asian countries people also haggle - but at least they take care of their environment.

You know, people that believe that “taking advantage of foreigners is ok because they have the money” aren’t exactly contributing to the reputation of a country. What’s left?

Treat everybody with respect - and good stuff will happen.

Uber tapped into a market that is completely dependent on cheap, insecure, unorganized labor. A market that creates disastrous externalities.

How any of this gives you reason to celebrate them rather than question what the f- went wrong is absolutely beyond me

This is how regulators wind up securing established companies. Capping commission rates favors Uber because Uber already has the infrastructure and resources at its disposal so that it may afford earning less, cutting head count as necessary, where as entrepreneurs who want to compete with Uber don't. They have many more mountains to climb and less opportunity once they've reached the market.

India is essentially planning on fortifying Uber's position. Well done. Mission accomplished, lobbyists. Go long on Uber stock.

> Uber & co. have been a net positive to the country, the people and the economy.

Net-positive for who? Folks who can afford to pay for their services? That's probably just the top 10%. If you speak to the drivers, they have nothing but complaints about the economics of it all.

Not discounting the fact that there's increased traffic now and overall less emphasis on using/improving public transit.

> After pouring billions into creating and proving a market, the government is baselessly capping their earnings.

I don't understand this line of thinking: Pouring billions shouldn't really get you a free pass to exploit, corrupt, amend, sway, flout, transcend, overpower governance, regulations, laws, discussions, resources. As far as creating value is concerned (on-demand rides), may be you've got a point: The taxi industry was expensive before Ola and Uber set foot, but it turns out VC money is finite, and expensive is what makes it work economically on the supply-side.

> After all, every stakeholder in this vertical is an at-will participant, with no compulsion to stay if the economics do not work out.

Surely, you have heard abt the high incentives based payment structure that Uber and Ola had in 2015/16 that coerced the drivers into taking loans for their cars which they struggle to since pay, now that those incentives have been changed because IPO? It doesn't seem to me you're thinking much from the drivers' side who are really struggling to make ends meet with the current predatory commissions that Uber et al enforce. The problem here is, there's a disproportionate amount of power in the hands of aggregators which time and again they've exercised in a ruthless manner: There's a need to curb that greed that otherwise would eat up the already economically struggling populace, imho.