Uber and Rapido have abandoned negotiations for a potential merger in India after failing to agree on control arrangements, amid fierce competition in the rapidly evolving mobility sector.
Uber and Rapido have abandoned talks over a possible combination in India after failing to agree on who would control any merged business, according to people familiar with the discussions cited by the Economic Times. The conversations took place in May during Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi’s visit to India, as both companies examined whether joining forces could strengthen their position in a crowded and fast-changing mobility market.
The disagreement was not over whether the market was attractive, but over the shape of any deal. Uber is said to have favoured a merger in which Rapido’s management would run the combined company, while Rapido proposed a cash-and-stock transaction that would effectively have handed control of Uber’s India operations to Rapido, leaving Uber with only a minority stake. That gap proved too wide to bridge, and the discussions ended without a transaction.
The collapse comes against a backdrop of sharply intensifying competition in Indian ride-hailing. Rapido has expanded well beyond its bike-taxi roots and now operates in more than 400 cities, with a broader push into auto-rickshaws, cars and, more recently, food delivery through its Ownly subsidiary. In May, Rapido raised $240 million at a $3 billion valuation from investors including Prosus, WestBridge Capital and Accel, underlining the scale of the opportunity it sees in the market.
Uber, meanwhile, has been reinforcing its Indian business rather than retreating from it. Livemint reported in February that the company injected nearly ₹3,000 crore into its local arm as Rapido’s challenge intensified, following an earlier investment in November 2025. Uber’s India unit has faced pressure from declining net revenue in ride-hailing, but Khosrowshahi has also publicly described Rapido as a more serious rival in the market than Ola, according to remarks he made in August 2025. The failed talks suggest that, for now, both companies still believe the battle for control of India’s mobility market is worth fighting on their own.
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