Hyundai, Vinfast lead the charge as cabs become the new battleground for carmakers; Maruti sits pretty at top
Passenger vehicle registrations as taxis in India have grown nearly three times in the last four years. Major carmakers such as Hyundai and VinFast are targeting this growing segment, while Maruti Suzuki continues to dominate with a 72% market share.
Mumbai: A near-three-fold growth in passenger vehicle registrations as taxis in four years is set to intensify competition among India's carmakers in the fast growing segment.
According to the government's Vahan portal data, vehicles registered for the taxi segment stood at around 312,665 in calendar year 2025, a growth of 9% from the year-ago period. In 2022, total registrations under this category was 114,535. Overall passenger vehicle retail sales grew about one-tenth to 4.4 million units in 2025.
Carmakers are looking to launch and double down on vehicles which are specifically catered to the taxi segment, with Hyundai Motor India and Vinfast India announcing plans over the last few months of competing in the segment with dedicated offerings. With a market share of around 72%, Maruti Suzuki dominates the segment.
“The taxi segment in India has witnessed a remarkable transformation, growing manifold especially over the last five years. This momentum is expected to continue, with the industry poised for further growth in 2026," Tarun Garg, managing director and chief executive at Hyundai Motor India told Mint.
Hyundai launched its new Prime Taxi range in December to double down on the cab segment. In a dedicated taxi range, existing models are fitted with necessary features and design which are used for cab services. Maruti Suzuki offers its Tour range of Dzire, Ertiga, Wagon R, and Eeco vehicles which are generally used for cab services.
“For HMIL, this represents a significant opportunity to deepen our presence in the segment. Our feature-rich Prime range SD (sedan) and HB (hatchback) vehicles will attract the cab/taxi operators and enable them to offer better convenience and comfort to the passengers," Garg added.
Of the total 312,665 vehicles which were registered for cab services, Maruti saw 225,737 registrations, Hyundai 32,579 registrations, and Mahindra 22,328. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Ltd had just about 4,000 registrations.
Vinfast in the fast lane
While Mahindra has not announced launch of any dedicated taxi ranges, Tata Motors PV has a XPres range of electric vehicles aimed at taxi fleet operators. Both the Indian brands have not made moves to expand presence in the commercial taxi segment, instead choosing to focus on private cars.
However, Vietnamese carmaker VinFast India is bullish about the taxi segment as an affiliate company of its parent VinGroup, Green and Smart Mobility JSC, is looking to enter India. GSM runs electric taxi fleet operations using VinFast car lineup, a big source of sales for VinFast in its home market Vietnam.
“The commercial mobility segment, particularly the seven-seater EV category, represents a significant growth opportunity. VinFast aims to capitalize on this potential by introducing a seven-seater MPV particularly designed for fleet operations," Tapan Ghosh, chief executive at VinFast India, told Mint.
“Through partnerships with strategic mobility players such as GSM, VinFast plans to cater to the fast growing commercial mobility segment. This approach has already been successfully implemented in other markets where VinFast operates and is planned for introduction in India as well," Ghosh said.
To be sure, doubling down on the cab segment is a tight rope to walk for the automakers as cars seen increasingly running as cabs on roads are not generally preferred by private car buyers for their own use.
Cab aggregators fuel demand
According to experts, the increasing trend of carmakers looking to focus on the cab segment coincides with the rapid rise in use of cab aggregator apps such as Uber, Rapido, and Ola.
According to Uber’s annual data for 2025, there was a 26.5% growth in the total trips which spanned more than 11.6 billion kilometers. While a similar metric was not available for other cab aggregators, Rapido has seen its revenue more than double since it entered the cab segment in December 2023. It has grown from ₹443 crore revenue in financial year 2023 to ₹909 crore in financial year 2025, company’s filings with the ministry of corporate affairs showed.
Subhabrata Sengupta, partner at Avalon Consulting, said that the network of taxis is only increasing in the country with many local apps also creating demand for cabs along with main aggregator apps.
“Most OEMs now have taxi models and service plans as smaller apps are also creating new markets," Sengupta said, referring to operators such as BlaBla and FastTrack Cabs that are strong in some regional markets.
topics
