Booking an Uber, Ola or a Rapido takes a few taps. But keeping thousands of cars available, drivers earning and vehicles maintained requires an entire operation behind the scenes.
Gurugram-based Carrum Mobility has built its business around that responsibility.
Founded in 2024 by Karan Jain, who previously cofounded self-drive rental startup Revv, Carrum emerged after CarDekho acquired Revv in 2023. Conversations with former colleagues at Uber convinced Jain that managing organised fleets could become a significant opportunity in India’s ride-hailing market.
Since its inception, Carrum has grown into a sizable fleet operator with 5,500 vehicles on its books, all the while remaining profitable, according to Jain. The startup has also received $17 Mn funding from Uber this year alone.
How Carrum Makes Money From Its Fleet
Carrum’s biggest strength is its partnership with Uber. It claims to be India’s largest supplier of Uber Black vehicles. By managing vehicles and drivers across Uber’s Go, Premium and Black services, the startup gets access to a large pool of ride demand without having to build its own customer-facing app. Its job is to keep cars running, drivers earning and vehicles productive.
This is also where Carrum’s business model shines the most. Many drivers want to earn through ride-hailing but cannot afford to buy a car or take on the cost of maintaining one. Carrum helps bridge that gap by managing vehicles and driver partners. The model has helped Carrum build a network of thousands of drivers and vehicles in a relatively short period.
Here’s a snapshot of its operations:
Driver network: Carrum has a base of 28,000+ driver partners
Ride volumes: Its fleet facilitates 35,000+ rides a day and 1 Mn+ rides a month
Fleet mix: Uber Go vehicles account for an estimated 65–70% of its fleet, while a little over 20% comprises Uber Black vehicles
Revenue contribution: Uber Black contributes around 28% of Carrum’s revenue. Each Black vehicle generates around ₹1 Lakh a month, compared with ₹65,000 for an Uber Go vehicle, according to Jain.
Keeping The Engines Running
Managing thousands of vehicles requires more than simply putting drivers behind the wheel. Carrum uses technology to track vehicle performance, coordinate maintenance, manage driver onboarding and handle financial settlements. It also uses data analytics, including heat maps and recommendations on where and when to log in, to help drivers find more ride opportunities.
The aim is to keep vehicles on the road for longer, reduce downtime and improve the earnings generated by each car. The more productively Carrum’s fleet operates, the better it can spread the cost of maintenance, financing and other operations across its rides.
Drivers also pay an onboarding fee to Carrum, which helps the company recover some of the costs of bringing new drivers into the network amid high churn.
Jain estimates that revenue is split roughly 60:40 between drivers and Carrum. The company uses its share to cover vehicle maintenance, financing and other fleet-related expenses, while drivers bear fuel costs.
For Carrum, Uber provides the demand that keeps its fleet moving, while its own technology and operations determine how efficiently it can serve that demand.
The fleet-management model is already competitive. Everest Fleet, Uber India’s largest overall fleet partner, reports over 23,500 vehicles. Globally, Moove operates a similar mobility infrastructure model.
In42 Take: Carrum Needs To Drive Solo
Carrum claims to have been profitable since its first month of operations, reporting a PAT of ₹6.5 Cr on operating revenue of ₹233 Cr in FY26. It aims to double both figures in the ongoing fiscal year while expanding its fleet to 7,700 vehicles. However, growth and profitability alone do not guarantee a sustainable business, as the bigger concern is customer concentration.
Uber is Carrum’s biggest source of business, and any change in Uber’s fleet requirements or commercial terms could affect Carrum’s business.
Then, the startup has no plans to partner with rival ride-hailing platforms. Instead, it is considering adjacent services such as chauffeur-driven cars and employee transport. These could diversify its revenue, but would require new customers, fresh partnerships and a different operating playbook. Uber’s presence in these segments could also leave Carrum facing the same dependency problem.
For now, Carrum has shown that it can build a profitable fleet business around Uber. What remains unproven is its independent growth. So, can Carrum turn its Uber-led growth into a sustainable business without depending on a single customer?