Ola fined Rs 10 lakh for retaining tip feature despite CCPA warning

The CCPA fined Ola Rs 10 lakh for continuing to solicit pre-ride payments despite regulatory warnings. It found the app's prompts misleading and noted lower driver acceptance rates for add-on requests. Rapido and Uber have also faced regulatory scrutiny.

New Delhi: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on ride-hailing app Ola for seeking additional payments from consumers while they book trips through a feature named ‘tip’ or ‘add-on’.

Terming the practice ‘misleading’, ‘unfair’ and a ‘dark pattern’, the CCPA also directed Ola to discontinue it. The order was passed by the CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra.

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The ride-hailing app first introduced the feature on April 27, 2025, following which the CCPA issued a show-cause notice on May 28 and advised Ola to discontinue the practice during a hearing on July 4.

Ola, however, continued the practice by merely renaming the feature from ‘tip’ to ‘add-on’.

According to the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, tipping is allowed only after journeys and the entire tip must go to drivers.

On August 11, 2026, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) reiterated that aggregators must not display pre-ride or during-ride tipping prompts. However, Ola’s app continued to display the feature.

The CCPA found messages in different versions of the app, including “Adding a tip might help increase the chances of getting a ride faster”, “Tip now to boost the chances of getting a ride sooner” and “Improve your chances of quicker ride confirmation!”, which suggested that paying extra could help consumers secure a ride faster.

The messages popped up on the app while it was assigning rides, implying that an additional payment could speed up the booking process.

The Authority found Ola’s position contradictory, as the company had earlier said that add-on payments did not influence ride allocations, while its app suggested they could improve the chances of find rides faster.

Meanwhile, Ola’s booking data for June 1–15, 2026, showed lower driver acceptance rates for requests carrying an add-on than for those without additional payments, a fact that was not disclosed to customers.

The CCPA said the Rs 10 lakh penalty was less than 0.01 per cent of Ola’s standalone revenue of approximately Rs 1,060 crore in 2024-25 and less than one-fifth of the amount consumers paid as add-ons in three cities over 15 days.

Rapido and Uber also face CCPA scrutiny

Rapido: A penalty of Rs 10 lakh was imposed on Rapido on August 31, 2026, over misleading tipping prompts encouraging customers to offer higher fares to secure rides.

The CCPA had earlier imposed another Rs 10 lakh penalty on Rapido in August 2025 over misleading advertisements, including the claim “Auto in 5 min or get Rs 50”.

Uber: In May 2025, the CCPA issued a notice to Uber over its ‘Advance Tip’ feature, which allowed riders to offer upfront payments for faster pickups. Proceedings against Uber and Namma Yatri are under investigation, according to the CCPA.