Both Uber and Ola acknowledged they do run their own cars, sources said.
New Delhi:
Does gender, time and battery left on a passenger’s cellphones affect cab rates under the practise of “surge pricing” used by ride-hailing platforms Uber and Ola, a parliamentary committee looking into the Personal Data Protection Bill, sources have told NDTV.
Officials of Uber and Ola were summoned by the parliamentary panel headed by BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi on Thursday. Following concerns raised by the Congress over the 2019 bill, the committee is looking into the matter and involving all stakeholders for an overview.
According to sources, the companies were also asked about the fairness of their algorithms, Chinese investment, the flow of data, and whether they have become transport companies with their own fleet by the Joint Committee of Parliament on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019.
“We asked Ola and Uber executives on what is the quantum of Chinese investments in their respective companies? We also inquired into the nature of data flow and revenue flow in these two companies. The panel specifically questioned Ola and Uber executives on how the surge pricing is determined by them. We have directed Ola and Uber executives to submit their response in writing to our queries,” Ms Lekhi told NDTV.
According to sources, Ola officials informed the committee that personal data of their customers is stored in India while Uber said their data is stored in the US.
The companies were also questioned about running their own and drivers with fixed salaries and whether this led to other drivers being treated unfairly. Both acknowledged they do have their own cars, sources said.
According to members at the meeting, Uber said that they have around 4,000 cars. The cars will be handed over to drivers by the end of this year and Uber will remain only a cab aggregator, its executives told the panel.
Representatives of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Paytm have already deposed before the panel.
The Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on December 11 last year. The bill seeks to protect the personal data of individuals as well as the establishment of a data protection authority for the same.
The proposed law seeks to prevent storing and processing of personal data by entities without the explicit consent of users. The bill was later referred to the joint committee of parliament.