Anand Mahindra's M&M to compete with Ola, Uber with launch of cab aggregator service

Auto manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra plans to enter the shared mobility services segment with the launch of a cab aggregator, called Alyte, for corporates. The introduction of the service will put M&M  in direct competition with Ola and Uber. The company claims a quarter of Alyte's fleet will be EVs in the next two-three years.

M&M also aims to bring all its mobility businesses under one vertical. Under the new plan, Alyte (currently under Mahindra Logistics), Meru Cabs (majority owned by M&M), Glyd (M&M's e-vehicle cab service) and First Choice (used car business) will all come under the new business vertical called Mobility Services.

Alyte will be a substantial attempt by the company to get into the cab aggregator and shared mobility services segment. "We are introducing a nationwide brand around our mobility service called Alyte from this quarter," Mahindra Logistics CEO Rampraveen Swaminathan told The Economic Times.

Alyte app coming soon

M&M will launch a mobile application for Alyte this month. The service will work on a contract basis with companies. The contract will include services to ferry the company's employees to and from offices to the employees' homes, warehouses or places of meetings. The app will later diversify its services into an on-call service. This will enable employees to book a seat for a trip to the airport among other services. The company's employees that are covered by the contract will be able to use Alyte by submitting their employee ID's or other account details.

How it's different from Ola, Uber

Ola has a significant share in the corporate taxi services through its Ola Corporate feature. Recently, Uber had also entered the segment through its Uber for Business feature. According to reports, over 10,000 companies spread across 22 different industries are currently using Ola Corporate. Alyte will be a B2B application and will work through corporate partnerships thus its functioning will be significantly different from B2C services such as Uber and Ola.

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