IIM-A alumnus wants to bring dial-an-auto service to the capital

In 2009, IIM-A alumnus started the G-Auto service, which is operated by Kumar’s Nirmal Foundation. The foundation has around 10,000 rickshaws that are available “24 hours a day, seven days a week”. These ply in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Rajkot in Gujarat, with an impending launch in Surat.

The auto service is expected to launch by the first week of April and 300 autos will be run in Delhi by the foundation.

Customers can call and book autorickshaws, like the dial-a-cab services available in the national capital.

“After the gangrape case, the question of safety and affordability for daily commuters spurred me to make a proposal to the civic agencies in Delhi. Many autorickshaw drivers refuse to ply by the meter in Delhi and this hampers customer safety. While a taxi charges Rs 20 to Rs 25 per km, in Delhi our autos will ply for Rs 6 per km. This brings down 25 per cent of the cab fare borne by commuters. We have received support from Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Surat Police to a large extent and are looking forward to this partnership with Delhi’s civic agencies,” said Nirmal Kumar, founder and managing trustee of Nirmal Foundation.

The proposal will work on the PPP (public-private partnership) model, where the organisation will receive support for office

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