Attribute it to the Western influence or the rising disposable income, the self-drive business?of people hiring cars for leisure drive over weekends or during festive breaks?is catching up in India. Sensing a kill, car rental companies have gone on an overdrive to draw more people into their fold.

Carzonrent (India) Pvt Ltd?the name says it all?is expanding its fleet three-fold this fiscal and is all set to introduce services at take away prices. Other industry players, like Sixt, are working on adding electric cars to their self-drive fleet.

Says Vikas Marwah, chief operating officer, car rental division, Carzonrent (India): ?The self-drive business in India is slowly catching up with the West. So, we plan to increase our fleet size from 180 vehicles now to 500 this fiscal,?

According to Marwah, the new fleet that will be introduced in October will offer services 30% cheaper than the current rates. This, he hopes, would bring in more customers to him.

With the more cars joining its fleet by the festive season, marwah expects the company?s revenue from the self-drive business to go up from Rs 4.5 crore in FY08 to Rs 12.5 crore this year. Likewise, its reservations for self-drive are expected to go up to 50,000 in this fiscal from 23,000 last year.

?From a mere 2% of our total revenue in last two years, the self-drive business could contribute to 6-7% this financial year, as more people are realising the need for weekend breaks,? adds Marwah.

Agrees Sanjay Kapur, managing director, Sixt. ?The self-drive business in India is still at a very nascent stage. However, there is a huge potential for the business, provided companies market their products better,? he says. Kapur added that Sixt has tied up with Reva Electric Car Company to offer electric cars for self-drive.

?So far, the focus of the company was on the B-to-B segment, but gradually we are foraying into the retail segment as there is an increasing number of people who are now willing to pay for such services,?

Kapur said.

Marwah feels better awareness about the self-drive concept will expand the market.

?People in India are still not well-versed with the concept or the options available for self- drive. Hence, we intend to shell out Rs 5 crore as part of our marketing expenditure this year, much more than what we did last year to create awareness among Indians about the self-drive concept,? Marwah added.

While the average age of people going in for self-drive is in the range of 25-35 years, there are different categories of preferred cars in India. According to industry estimates, while people who do not own a car generally prefer spending Rs 1,500 a day for entry-level cars like Santro or Wagon R, big families opt for sedans or Innova for outstation trips at Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 a day, and the younger blood has no compunction to shell out Rs 5,000 a day for a more sturdy vehicle like Ford Endeavour or Honda CR-V. However, there is another extremely rich class of people who are willing to pay Rs 12,000 to Rs 35,000 to control the wheels of a Merc or a BMW just for a day.

?There are so many car models the hitting Indian roads each year. Since even quite well-off people cannot manage to buy all of them, people prefer driving more expensive vehicles on rent when they go out to nearby destinations over weekends or on small vacations. Consequently, the concept of self-driven vehicles is picking up pace among frequent travellers,? says an industry expert, adding that fleet utilisation is as high as 90% over weekends vis-?-vis 60% during week days.

To give a further fillip to the market, car rental companies are in talks with auto insurance companies to provide rented cars to their clients till their damaged car is back on the road. ?Globally, insurance companies give big business to car rental companies and I don?t understand why the same cannot happen in India,? Marwah said, adding that Carzonrent is in an advance stage of talks with several auto insurance companies.

However, the picture is not as rosy as it looks. Experts feel several roadblocks have to be cleared before the self-drive concept establishes a strong foothold in India.

Admits Kapur of Sixt: ?The road infrastructure in India is not very encouraging and unavailability of proper signages as well as parking space acts as a deterrent for inbound tourists in going in for the self-drive option vis-?-vis chauffeur-driven vehicles.?

Though there has been an improvement in terms of connectivity through the global positioning system (GPS), with so many blockades on each road, people are not able to access it completely, feels an industry analyst.

?Moreover, unlike in the West where people can get themselves insured the moment they opt to go for a self-drive, insurance takes much longer in

India and this continues to hold back a huge number of car lovers from going on for self-drive compared to the not-so-expensive chauffeur-driven cars offered by unorganised players,? adds the analyst. But nothing to beat the thrill of self-driving. Want a wager on that?