The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has just fined ride-hailing firm Grab VND120 million (USD5,217) for breaking regulations on borrowing from foreign lenders.

The Ministry of Transport has given the green light to the implementation of GrabTaxi services in three provinces, including Thanh Hoa, An Giang and Dak Nong.

Drivers and customers are confused about the proposal to require ride-hailing vehicles to put up ‘taxi signs’ on the top of their vehicles.

Cars which provide passenger transportation services via ride-hailing platforms like Grab will have to have roof signs showing that they were “contract vehicles”.

 Traditional taxi operators in Vietnam are being ­accused of unfair anti-competitive practices against ride-hailing firm Grab, as they attempt to compete against the latter’s expansion in the country.

To get ahead in the competition with Grab, Go-Viet needs a strategy other than “burning money” to increase its market share, especially as they are running on a tighter budget than Grab.

After Grab bought up Uber’s ride-sharing business, some new businesses have appeared in the ride-hailing app market and are operating vibrantly, promising cutthroat competition in the future.

VietNamNet Bridge - GrabFood, Go-Food and Now are in a battle in the food delivery market. The food delivery market has been remapped since the beginning of 2019. 

In the fierce competition in the online food ordering market, worth $33 million as estimated by Euromonitor, players need to have good technology but also many delivery people to win.

Thuy Tien, 26, an office worker who lives on the third floor of an apartment building on Tran Dang Ninh street in Hanoi, chooses to take the stairs every day instead of the lift.

VietNamNet Bridge - Warned of the stiff competition, more investors nevertheless joined the e-hailing market after the departure of Uber last year.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam’s digital economy is promising, with value expected to reach $33 billion by 2025, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2018 Report released by Google and Temasek.

The void created by Uber after leaving the e-hailing market has been quickly filled with newcomers, both foreign and domestic, including the latest, a 100 percent Vietnamese app called BE.

VietNamNet Bridge - Analysts believe that food is now the most cutthroat segment in O2O (online to offline) business with big players such as GrabFood, Now and Lala.

VietNamNet Bridge - Mobile e-commerce proves is a spacious battlefield for apps, but the land for winners is small.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many M&A deals have been reported recently which target fintechs operating in the field of payment services. Big investors are behind the deals.

VietNamNet Bridge - After the departure of Uber, the battle in the ride hailing market has heated up with the participation of many newcomers.

After a period of attracting users with industry, tech apps, from ride-hailing to chatting, continue to develop into ‘super-apps’ which can be used for many purposes.

The Ministry of Transport has submitted to the government a draft decree on taxi transport management, under which taxi firms will have to replace vehicle tracking devices (black boxes). 

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese technology engineers are respected in multi-nationals as they have high qualifications and work hard.