Rapido fined Rs 10 Lakh for misleading ads; Ordered to refund customers

August 21, 2025

New Delhi, August 21: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Rapido, a ride-hailing company providing bike taxi service, for running false and misleading advertisements. Along with this, the company has been ordered to refund the money to the customers and remove the misleading advertisement immediately.

Rapido has not yet given any official statement on this fine. Rapido had claimed in its advertisements that its service would provide ‘auto in 5 minutes or 50 rupees cashback’. Apart from this, some other guaranteed services were also promised, but in reality, this did not happen.

In the last two years, about 1800 users complained that Rapido did not fulfil its promises. Rapido ran such advertisements in different languages ​​in 120 cities across the country for 548 days. Rapido coins were given instead of cashback of 50 rupees. CCPA found in its investigation that Rapido deliberately ran advertisements that misled customers.

The company not only made false promises but also hid important information. For example, it claimed ‘Guaranteed auto in 5 minutes’ but did not mention that this facility may not be available everywhere or at all times. This forced customers to use Rapido’s service again and again, which was considered an unfair trade practice.​​​​​​​

The cashback of Rs 50 promised by Rapido was not given in the form of cash. Instead, the company gave ‘Rapido Coins’, which could only be used for bike rides. They were also valid for only 7 days and had a lot of conditions. This reduced their value. According to CCPA, by doing this Rapido forced customers to use their service again and again, that too with wrong conditions.

Users complained about the app

The CCPA said that 575 consumer complaints were registered against Rapido on the National Consumer Helpline between April 2023 and May 2024. At the same time, 1,224 more complaints were received between June 2024 and July 2025. These complaints included cases of overcharging, delay in refund, driver misbehavior and non-fulfillment of cashback promise by the company.