Every few weekends, 21-year-old student Lavanya Jain opens the BlaBlaCar app to find a lift from Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi to his home in Kandhla, a small town in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state. The 120-kilometer journey costs him about ₹500, the equivalent of about $6. That’s a fraction of the ₹1,500–₹2,000, or $17–$23, he would pay for a private cab.

“If you’re looking for a fast, efficient, affordable, and comfortable way to travel — and you like to chat — you should basically check out BlaBlaCar,” Jain told TechCrunch, adding that he has used the app some 40 to 50 times over the past two years.

Jain is one of millions of Indians turning to long-distance carpooling as a cheaper, more social way to travel between cities. That surge has made India the company’s largest market worldwide, with an estimated 20 million passengers this year — up almost 50% from a year earlier. Based on that forecast, BlaBlaCar’s India market would surpass the 18 million passengers projected in Brazil and its home market of France.

For a company that shut its India office in 2017 after poor traction, the turnaround is striking.

Growth has come largely without marketing or a local team, driven instead by word of mouth, expanding mobile internet access, and the rise of digital payments and car ownership among India’s middle class.

Image Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch

India is home to more than 700 million smartphone users and has seen a sharp rise in digital payme