The Delhi High Court has reprimanded app-based transport
aggregator Rapido, directing the company to enhance accessibility for disabled
persons within four months or "pack up".
An internal audit identified 170 accessibility errors in the
Rapido app. The court warned that unless these issues are resolved, Rapido
should cease its operations in India.
The court also questioned how the app was permitted to function
despite not complying with legal accessibility requirements. The joint
secretary of the Road and Transport Ministry has been asked to provide an
explanation and must appear at the next hearing to outline the steps being
taken to ensure transport apps meet accessibility standards before their launch.
This directive came in response to a petition filed by two
visually impaired individuals.
Advocate Rahul Bajaj, representing the petitioners, told NDTV that
Rapido submitted a summary of an accessibility audit report, which they claimed
to have received the previous night.
"That report showed that there are 170 accessibility errors
in the platform at the base level of WCAG level A. It also showed 81 major
failures in the accessibility of the app, and this is as per their own audit.
Quite apart from the concerns that we got from disabled users which we were
also carrying," Bajaj said, as quoted by the report.
Rapido defended itself
by arguing that it is a small startup in India and lacks the necessary funds
for these improvements. However, the court rejected this justification.
In August last year,
Rapido entered the unicorn club after securing $120 million in funding from
existing investor WestBridge Capital.
Rapido was established
in 2015 by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and Rishikesh SR. Initially focused
on auto and bike taxi services, the company later expanded into cab
aggregation. In April 2022, Rapido secured $180 million in a Series D funding
round led by Swiggy, with participation from TVS Motor Company, Westbridge,
Shell Ventures, and Nexus Ventures.
Rapido became the third startup to
achieve unicorn status last year, following Perfios and Krutrim AI, founded by
Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal. In contrast, 2023 saw only two new unicorns — Zepto and
InCred Wealth.