State transport minister Suvendu Adhikari, Additional Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, BCC&I President C S Ghosh and other key members from the transport department and the Bengal Chamber were present at the inauguration.

This launch was the culmination of an initiative taken by BCC&I in March 2016 when it presented a proposal to the state Department of Transport for 'Yatrik', an innovative platform for public taxi operators, popularly known as yellow and blue-white taxis.

With an estimated 30,000 taxis (yellow and blue/white taxis), the Bengal Chamber decided to offer these taxi drivers a level playing field with other app-based taxi services.

Techl33t Infosystems Private Limited and Distronix, two Kolkata-based technology startups, were roped in for the project.

They designed, developed and implemented the Yatrik platform.

The pilot phase of the project is being conducted with support from Bandhan Bank.

The platform is expected to provide customers with an option to remotely locate and hail a yellow or blue/white Taxi through a simple mobile-phone based app interface without affecting the current operating model or meter-based fare calculation of the taxis.

BCC&I is as much a social organization as a Chamber of Commerce representing business interests.

The Chamber feels this project is going to bring about a positive change in the society and will become a game changer in the transportation scenario of Kolkata.