Namma Yatri logo.
Credit: X/@nammayatri
Bengaluru: Namma Yatri on Tuesday denied claims that the Auto Rickshaw Drivers' Union (ARDU) had broken up with it and said it had always been "union-agnostic".
The Juspay-owned ride-hailing firm has been in the news after it tried to distance itself from the ARDU, which claims to represent 32,000 drivers in the city.
Namma Yatri was launched in November 2022 as the drivers' own app and has a 25 per cent market share of the app-based auto rides in Bengaluru.
Namma Yatri is owned by the fintech company Juspay, which originally provided map and cloud services under the Software as a Service (Saas) model. While Namma Yatri has acknowledged the role played by the ARDU's D Rudramurthy and PL Pattabhiram, it says it represents the entire driver community.
In a statement, Namma Yatri asserted that there have been no recent changes in its ways of working.
"Namma Yatri collaborates with over one lakh drivers, the majority of whom are not affiliated with any union. We prioritise community welfare over individual union interests," it said, adding that it was formalising an open governance model to represent the interests of both drivers and citizens.