India’s road transport ministry has ordered ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Ola to stop prompting passengers to tip before a trip begins, citing unfair and manipulative practices that may mislead consumers and violate guidelines.
India’s road transport ministry has moved to shut down a practice increasingly used by ride-hailing apps: asking passengers to add a tip before a trip has even begun. In a notification reported by NDTV, the ministry said such prompts violate the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines and may amount to misleading or manipulative conduct under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
The ministry said any tip must be entirely voluntary and available only after the ride ends. It cited interface prompts such as “Advance Tip”, “Choose an Add-on” and messages suggesting that a larger payment might help a booking be accepted more quickly. Under Clause 14.15 of the guidelines, tipping options are meant to appear only after completion of the journey, not during booking, before pickup or while the trip is in progress.
The move follows mounting criticism from the consumer affairs ministry and the Central Consumer Protection Authority, which have already flagged pre-ride tipping as unfair and exploitative. According to reports in Livemint and Newsonair, Uber was issued a notice over the feature and asked to explain why passengers were being nudged to tip in advance. Consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi has said tips should be a voluntary token of appreciation given after the service, not a condition that may improve access to a ride.
The wider crackdown could affect several major platforms, including Uber, Ola, Rapido and Namma Yatri, which have all faced scrutiny over forms of upfront tipping, according to Livemint. The government’s stance is that such prompts create an impression that extra payment can influence driver acceptance, waiting times or service quality, even when no such guarantee exists. That, officials argue, places consumers under pressure and crosses the line from choice into coercion.
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