Online cab aggregator Ola has tied up with Nissan India to provide its drivers with cars under the Nissan and Datsun brands. Ola plans to have more such tie ups in the future, in order to add over 100,000 vehicles through cab leasing by the end of 2016. It plans to track usage throughout this time and develop customised vehicles for cab sharing based on the analytics. In September, Ola raised $225 million in a round of funding from existing and new investors and launched a cab leasing program for drivers which would let them lease a car for a deposit and monthly lease payments, with an option to own the vehicle after 3 years. The company piloted the program with 1,000 vehicles in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and 3 other cities, for which it sourced vehicles from Maruti Suzuki. The program, worth Rs 5,000 crore ($753 million), will see an initial investment of Rs 500 crore (~ $75 million) by Ola, and raise independent funds for this company owned subsidiary. Ride sharing launched: Last month, Ola launched Ola Share, a ride sharing service in beta, which will apparently match users from ‘social groups’ like people from the same workplace, friends from college etc. This service would be available for select users in Bangalore and 5 other cities over the next 3 months. Ola said that Share would help in decongestion of traffic, pollution and sustainable transport. It claimed that its drivers’ revenue was likely to increase up to 50% by…
