Uber India reported a consolidated loss of Rs 1,512 crore in FY25, up sharply from Rs 89 crore in the previous fiscal, as its ride-hailing business bore the brunt of intensifying competition.
According to the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2025, net revenue from ride-hailing collapsed 89% to Rs 88 crore from Rs 807 crore in FY24. The decline is striking given that gross revenue from ride commissions remained flat at Rs 2,604 crore during the year, pointing to a widening gap driven entirely by incentive payouts.
Uber increased spending on driver incentives and customer discounts by 33% to Rs 2,516 crore in FY25. Under the company’s accounting policy, these payouts are netted off against gross revenue from operations, compressing the ride-hailing topline to a fraction of the underlying transaction value. On the ride-hailing segment alone, losses zoomed over fourfold to Rs 1,407 crore from Rs 330 crore in FY24.
Despite the ride-hailing hit, Uber India’s overall operating revenue grew 2.3% to Rs 3,849 crore from Rs 3,762 crore in FY24. The bulk of this came from support services provided to its parent and group entities, which rose to Rs 3,664 crore from Rs 2,936 crore in the previous fiscal. The company also generated Rs 79 crore from shift transportation services, which includes employee pickup and drop-off operations.
The rise in incentive expenditure comes against the backdrop of Rapido’s shift to a zero-commission, flat subscription model in FY25, a move that forced Uber to respond with deeper driver payouts, and eventually a shift to subscriptions for autos and cabs. While the revenue structures of the two platforms are not directly comparable, Rapido reduced its net losses by 30.5% to Rs 258 crore even as Uber’s consolidated losses widened to Rs 1,512 crore.
Industry experts note that intensifying competition, growing reliance on incentives, and the broader shift towards subscription-based pricing have begun to structurally weigh on ride-hailing unit economics. Thin margins, combined with fixed operating costs, make the segment increasingly sensitive to incentive-led spending cycles.
The FY25 numbers land at a particularly challenging moment for Uber in India. Rapido, overtook Uber to become the largest platform by ride volumes during the fiscal year. The competitive pressure is set to intensify further with Bharat Taxi, India’s first cooperative-based government-backed ride-hailing platform backed by NCDC, NABARD and Amul, launched earlier this month in Delhi-NCR and Gujarat with a flat Rs 30 daily subscription for cabs, zero commission, and fares promised to be approximately 30% cheaper than private aggregators. The platform has onboarded over 400,000 active drivers and is targeting nationwide expansion within two years.
Uber’s broader pivot into B2B services — employee transportation and last-mile logistics via ONDC through Uber Direct — signals that ride-hailing alone may not sustain the India business. With losses of this magnitude and a government-backed rival entering the fray, the pressure on Uber to chart a path to profitability here has never been greater.