CCPA fines Rapido ₹10 lakh for unfair trade practices and dark patterns

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has slapped a ₹10 lakh penalty on Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited, the company behind ride-hailing platform Rapido for unfair trade practices and dark patterns in the app's booking interface.

The order, passed by CCPA under Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra, follows a sector-wide review of tipping and dynamic pricing practices across cab and bike-taxi aggregators in India. The regulator found that Rapido's app nudged riders to add money to their fare after a booking was made, using prompts such as "Higher the price, higher the chance of getting a ride" and "Captains aren't accepting at ₹60. Try adding +10, +20, +30."

CCPA held that this sequence, quoting a fare first and then pressuring the rider to raise it once the booking is underway, qualifies as "Confirm Shaming," one of the dark patterns listed under the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023. The authority's reasoning was that the prompts create a false sense that a ride depends on paying extra, delivered at the exact moment a rider has the least room to negotiate or walk away.

A second violation was found in Rapido's "Set your price" slider. According to the order, moving the slider up displayed a green "higher chance of getting a ride" message, while moving it down triggered a red or orange warning. The slider itself also allowed riders to raise the price by a larger margin than they could lower it. CCPA classified this as "Interface Interference," noting that the visual design alone steered users toward paying more, regardless of the accompanying text.

The order draws a clear line between tipping and what Rapido was actually doing. CCPA pointed out that the fare shown to a rider at booking already factors in distance, time, traffic, tolls, and driver payout, so there was no basis for asking for more money for the same ride before it had even begun. A tip, the authority said, is meant to be a voluntary payment made after a service is delivered, not a condition attached before it starts. CCPA also cited the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, which specify that any tipping option should only appear after a ride is completed, not at booking or mid-ride.

Rapido had defended the practice before CCPA, arguing that tipping was voluntary, that its matching algorithm ran independently of whether a rider paid extra, and that the prompts simply mirrored the kind of real-time negotiation that happens between riders and drivers offline. CCPA rejected this defence, holding that the timing and design of the prompts pressured riders precisely when they were most reliant on the platform. It also noted that Rapido had not produced any data to show that paying more actually improved a rider's chances of getting a ride, calling the underlying claim unsubstantiated and misleading.

This is not an isolated action. CCPA has been examining advance-tipping and dark-pattern practices across the ride-hailing sector more broadly, having already issued notices to Uber, Ola, Rapido and Namma Yatri asking them to comply with the 2023 dark patterns guidelines and file self-declarations on the same. Its review of Uber and Ola's practices is still ongoing.

Alongside the penalty, CCPA has directed Rapido to discontinue the misleading prompts and interface design flagged in the order. The authority said the action reflects its continuing mandate under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, to act against unfair trade practices and misleading advertising affecting consumers as a class.