In our largest city, we do more orders than local metro: Rapido's Aravind Sanka
Many of Rapido’s captains are students, part-timers, or teachers supplementing their income, said founder Aravind Sanka. The company claims to have a presence in every district headquarters in the country, with the fastest growth coming from Tier II and Tier III towns.
In cities where potholes outnumber pavements and metros still struggle to reach every corner, Rapido claims to be quietly positioning itself as India’s parallel public transport network.
Its co-founder and CEO, Aravind Sanka, said that in one of its largest markets, the platform now facilitates more daily rides than the local metro system—a sign, he said, of how India’s mobility needs are being met outside traditional infrastructure.
For millions of commuters navigating broken roads, unpredictable traffic, and limited last-mile options, two-wheeler ride-hailing platforms like Rapido have become a pragmatic fix—faster than buses, cheaper than cabs, and more accessible than metros.
“We’re not solving for the top five or ten million people,” Sanka said during a fireside chat at TechSparks 2025. “We’re solving for the 500 million who need affordable mobility.” The company now clocks around five million rides a day, powered by a network of three million captains across India, Sanka said.
“In cities where metros exist, our customers are often the same people who also take the metro,” Sanka noted. “We’re solving a universal need—affordable, convenient daily mobility.”
Many of Rapido’s captains are students, part-timers, or teachers supplementing their income, as per the founder. The company claims to have a presence in every district headquarters in the country, with the fastest growth coming from Tier II and Tier III towns—places where public transport remains skeletal. “Beyond the top ten cities, hardly anyone knew about most mobility brands. We wanted to change that,” he said
As Indian cities expand faster than their infrastructure can catch up, two-wheelers have filled the gaps that metros and buses often leave behind. About 35% of riders in its largest city are women, Sanka said, adding that the company is now working to bring more women captains onto the platform.
“In a country where public transport is overburdened, we’re just helping people move,” he said. “When mobility becomes accessible, everything else follows.”
Edited by Jyoti Narayan