Ola partners with banks, oil companies to help drivers tide over cash crunch

Taxi aggregator Ola on Wednesday announced that it has partnered with leading banks and oil companies in Bengaluru to help its driver-partners through the cash crunch most of them are facing in the wake of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes a few weeks ago.
The initiative, which kickstarted last weekend, will allow Ola’s driver-partners to use e-vouchers issued by the cab aggregator at petrol bunks across Bengaluru. The company has partnered with Bharat Petroleum to facilitate its drivers to obtain the fuel e-vouchers at all petrol stations in the city.

In addition to this, Ola has also partnered with two private banks whose representatives will be stationed at the cab aggregator’s offices. They will support Ola drivers in the process of making cash withdrawals and cash conversions.
The scheme will continue till the end of December and will be extended to several other cities in the coming weeks.
This is the first such move by a taxi aggregator aimed at benefitting its drivers since the Indian government’s demonetisation announcement on November 8. Earlier this week, Ola launched a new feature in their Ola Money mobile app to enable users to pay for utilities like gas and electricity by selecting the “Bill Payment” option.