India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2025 on 1 July, allowing ride-hailing platforms such as Ola, Uber and Rapido to charge up to twice the state-notified base fare during peak demand or bad weather. The move raises the previous ceiling of 1.5 times and aims to give aggregators pricing flexibility while keeping an upper limit in place. The guidelines also prescribe a floor: fares may be discounted to as low as 50 per cent of the base rate in off-peak hours. A cancellation fee of 10 per cent of the fare, capped at ₹100, can be levied on either the passenger or the driver when a ride is scrapped without valid reason, with the proceeds shared between the two parties according to existing revenue-share norms. Base fares must cover at least the first three kilometres, eliminating any extra charge for so-called dead mileage beyond that distance. For the first time at national level, the rules permit the use of non-transport (private) motorcycles for passenger rides through aggregators, subject to individual state governments’ approval. The change offers long-sought legal clarity to bike-taxi operators such as Rapido and to the two major platforms’ two-wheeler services, which have faced bans in some jurisdictions. States have up to three months to align their local regulations with the central framework and may impose additional provisions. Aggregators must provide drivers with health insurance cover of at least ₹5 lakh and term insurance of ₹10 lakh, and ensure that drivers retain at least 80 per cent of the fare when using their own vehicles. Industry players welcomed the update, calling it a balanced approach that could expand affordable mobility, reduce congestion and formalise gig-economy jobs.