Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Sunday, 26 July 2026, addressed the launch event of Bharat Taxi at HCM RIPA (Harish Chandra Mathur Rajasthan Institute of Public Administration) in Jaipur, inaugurating a cooperative-model cab service that aims to give drivers both employment and an ownership stake in the platform.

What Was Launched

Bharat Taxi is a cooperative ride-hailing initiative operated by Sahakar Taxi Co-operative, designed to formalise the informal driver economy by converting drivers into shareholder-owners. At the event, six top-performing drivers — referred to as sarthis (charioteerss/drivers) — were presented with share certificates, symbolising their ownership stake in the cooperative.

Chief Minister Sharma said the initiative was 'a powerful medium to provide not just employment but also ownership and dignity to citizens' (nागरिकों को रोजगार देने के साथ ही, स्वामित्व और सम्मान प्रदान करने का सशक्त माध्यम). Following the ceremony, CM Sharma and Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol jointly flagged off a convoy of more than 100 cabs, bikes, and auto-rickshaws.

Context

The Ministry of Cooperation was established by the Government of India in July 2021 to expand the cooperative movement beyond its traditional strongholds in dairy and credit into sectors such as urban transport and services. Bharat Taxi sits squarely within this broader national agenda.

Rajasthan under CM Bhajanlal Sharma, who took office in December 2023, has positioned cooperative-sector expansion as a pillar of its employment generation strategy. The presence of Union Minister Mohol at the event signals active coordination between the state government and the central Cooperation Ministry.

Policy Backdrop and MoUs

A key feature of the launch was the exchange of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between Sahakar Taxi Co-operative and four major state bodies: the Rajasthan Co-operative Dairy Federation (RCDF), Nagar Nigam (Municipal Corporation), Jaipur Metro, and the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation Limited (RSRTC).

These partnerships are intended to integrate Bharat Taxi's last-mile services with existing public transport infrastructure — buses, metro, and municipal networks — creating a more seamless urban mobility ecosystem. The inclusion of RCDF, a major dairy cooperative, also suggests potential synergies in logistics and cooperative governance frameworks.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are taxi, bike, and auto-rickshaw drivers in Rajasthan, who stand to gain formalised employment, social recognition, and a financial stake in the platform they work on — a model that distinguishes Bharat Taxi from conventional gig-economy aggregators where drivers have no ownership rights.

Urban commuters in Jaipur are expected to benefit from better-integrated, cooperative-backed mobility options. The MoUs with Jaipur Metro and RSRTC in particular point toward coordinated first-and-last-mile connectivity.

What's Next

The immediate focus will be on the operational rollout of Bharat Taxi services across Jaipur and, potentially, other districts of Rajasthan. Performance data on driver enrolment, ride volumes, and cooperative membership growth will be closely watched as indicators of whether the model can scale.

With the central government backing cooperative expansion nationally, Rajasthan's Bharat Taxi could serve as a template for other states looking to bring gig-economy workers into the formal cooperative fold.