new delhi, Dec. 10 -- Google-backed Namma Yatri is set to be the technology partner for Bharat Taxi, a cooperative-run alternative to Uber, Ola and Rapido, two people aware of the matter told Mint. Cooperation minister Amit Shah confirmed the Bharat Taxi tie-up in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 2 December, noting that the cooperative model allows drivers to retain 100% of fares and have board representation besides receiving annual dividends and a share of profits. Namma Yatri won a three-month tender process to customize its platform for the service, which is piloting in Delhi and Gujarat under a zero-commission structure. About 88,000 drivers are currently registered on the app, the second person said. The Bharat Taxi app will be operated by Sahkar Taxi Cooperative Ltd, a multi-state cooperative registered under the MSCS Act, 2002. Membership requires an admission fee of Rs.500, which includes the value of the allotted share. The tie-up adds to Namma Yatri's growing government collaborations. Over the past two years, the platform has expanded across Karnataka, Kerala (Kochi), Tamil Nadu (Chennai), Odisha and West Bengal. The Bharat Taxi deal signals Namma Yatri's formal push into north India, a region it has struggled to penetrate until now. Namma Yatri was the first to introduce the zero-commission model-a move ride-hailing rivals later mirrored. Rapido was the first to drop commissions, followed by Ola and Uber for two-wheelers and autorickshaws. The real shift, however, came when Ola extended the zero-commission model to its cab segment. In August, Uber too began piloting a zero-commission model for cabs and said it plans to roll it out more broadly. While Rapido and Uber charge drivers Rs.29 per day as a subscription fee, Ola's daily fee is significantly higher at Rs.67. Namma Yatri, in comparison, charges a flat fee-Rs.25 for a day's worth of trips or Rs.3.5 per ride. Behind the upstart app was the heft of Juspay, the Bengaluru payments firm that runs the rails for millions of digital transactions, and the architecture of Beckn-the open protocol co-created by Nandan Nilekani to keep digital markets open and free of monopoly. Nilekani was the first chairman of the Unified Identification Authority of India, which then spawned a host of public digital infrastructure apps such as Unified Payments Intereface, Digilocker, Digiyatra, among others....