What happened: ‘Bharat Taxi’ launched in Maharashtra as a cooperative mobility service

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched the ‘Bharat Taxi’ cooperative mobility service in Maharashtra at a programme held at Navi Mumbai International Airport. The initiative was presented as an application of the cooperative model to transport, with Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah and Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol present.

Background and earlier position: cooperatives and a thrust to strengthen cooperative institutions

Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol stated that the Government of India created a separate Ministry of Cooperation in 2021 to strengthen the rural economy and extend cooperative benefits to wider sectors. He also cited a sequence of policy and implementation actions since the Ministry’s establishment, including a National Cooperation Policy and targets for new multipurpose cooperative societies. The launch in Maharashtra was linked to the State’s existing cooperative footprint, where a large share of cooperatives is said to operate.

The Bharat Taxi model builds on Maharashtra’s transport cooperative ecosystem through reference to the D. B. Patil Cooperative Transport Association agreement, described as a basis for connecting local taxi drivers in and around Navi Mumbai International Airport to the Bharat Taxi platform via credit facilities.

What changed now: profit-sharing, fixed fees, and cooperative ownership for taxi Sarathis

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