Bengaluru's Porter in trouble for operating without permissions

'Over 2000 cases have already been booked against the company in the last couple of years for displaying advertisements on their vehicles without proper permission,' C Mallikarjun, Karnataka Additional Commissioner for Transport (Enforcement-South) said.

Bengaluru-based intra-city logistics startup Porter could be booked for operating without obtaining the relevant permissions, a senior official at the Transport Department revealed. 

Section 93 of The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 mandates that no person shall engage himself as an agent in the business of collecting, forwarding, or distributing goods carried by goods carriages without obtaining licence from the appropriate authority subject to conditions prescribed by the state government.

According to C Mallikarjun, Karnataka Additional Commissioner for Transport (Enforcement-South), Porter does not have such kind of permit from the Regional Transport Authority. 

“Over 2000 cases have already been booked against the company in the last couple of years for displaying advertisements on their vehicles without proper permission,” Mallikarjun told DH. 

This comes less than two months after the company chief executive officer and co-founder Pranav Goel, in an interview with DH, said that the company is looking to launch its services in the top 30-35 cities by 2025, to garner a 3X growth in its user base along with 5X growth in its revenue and scale in the next five years. 

“We are now looking into the matter in detail and will take action accordingly,” the official further added. 

DH has reached out to Porter and the story will be updated with company comments.