• Source:JND

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Tuesday imposed a Rs 10 lakh penalty on ride-hailing platform Rapido for unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

According to an official statement, the CCPA has fined Rapido's parent company, Ropen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd, Rs 10 lakh for "engaging in misleading advertising, unfair trade practices, unfair contracts and dark patterns by inducing passengers to overcharge them before their journeys are finalised."

According to the news agency Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the action was taken after CCPA conducted a sector-wide examination of cab and bike-taxi aggregator platforms in India. The focus of the probe was practices related to pre-ride tipping and dynamic pricing.

The consumer watchdog body found prompts including-- “Higher the price, higher the chance of getting a ride” and “Captains aren't accepting at Rs 60 on Rapido App. The App was also suggested to add +10, +20, +30 while the consumer booking was still being processed.

"The CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra, has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited, which operates the ride-hailing platform Rapido, for misleading advertisements, unfair trade practices, unfair contract and dark patterns in the manner in which riders were prompted to pay more before their rides were confirmed," the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said.

Also Read: 

What CCPA Found:

  • The app quoted an initial fare, but after booking, prompted riders to pay extra under the claim that drivers were not accepting the original price.

  • This created a false impression that higher payments were necessary to secure a ride promptly after committing to the booking.

  • The CCPA classified this practice as "Confirm Shaming," a recognised dark pattern that induced urgency and fear of ride cancellation.

  • The "Set your price" slider used colour coding to influence decisions—green for higher prices and red/orange warnings for lower prices.

The price slider interface was intentionally designed with greater flexibility to increase fares rather than decrease them.


Also In News