Success Stories

Uber India taking care of its most important resource- Its driver-partners

Uber is a San Francisco (US) headquartered taxi hailing firm. Outside the United States, India is one of the key markets for the company and the company has been growing its reach significantly here. For a company that operates majorly dependent on its car fleet and most importantly its drivers, taking care of them has always been one of the main focuses.

But till now, there was no insurance cover provided for drivers by the company. The drivers had been constantly demanding it in the recent past with a few protests also organized. Also, Uber's main rival in India, Ola has been providing insurance for drivers since last year. With all of this in consideration, it was about time Uber took action not just to provide insurance to the drivers, but in turn also provide a tangible solution to the accidental risks associated with driving.

That is when Uber India joined hands with ICICI Lombard General Insurance to introduce the first ever insurance program for its drivers. Under this program, the company will offer its 450,000 driver-partners a free coverage of accidental death and disablement, hospitalization, and outpatient medical treatment in case of an accident while working (that is while using the Uber India app). The program has gone live from 1st September 2017 for all the driver-partners aged 18-65.

Uber celebrated its fourth anniversary in India last month and this new step for its human resource is seen as a mirror to its commitment towards the safety and wellbeing of the driver-partners. The program also highlights ICICI Lombard's efforts to go beyond its regular services and offer value addition to its partners and their employees. It is a great step to ensure wellbeing of drivers who are exposed to accidental risks on a regular basis.

ICICI Lombard will provide coverage of INR 5 lakh in the event of death, up to INR 5 lakh for permanent disability, and up to INR 2 lakh for hospitalization cases, with a sub-limit of up to INR 50000 for outpatient treatment. The drivers will not be charged for the insurance but instead Uber India will be paying a fixed premium for each insurance plan. The partnership adds to the similar offerings of Uber across Asian markets including Myanmar and Indonesia.

ICICI Lombard's partnership with Uber India marks the provision of a safety net for the driver-partners, who are a very important part of it's growth journey. This move will also help Uber to retain drivers and prevent them from moving to rival app-based taxi services. For ICICI Lombard, this is another success story that just goes on to show our constant endeavor to grow beyond our traditional services. We continue to build more such collaborations while providing more and more people with better reach to insurance facilities.