Didi Chuxing’s ride-hailing orders fall in August as Beijing’s data security investigation starts to bite

Didi Chuxing’s ride-hailing orders in August fell 21.1 per cent from the previous month, a steeper decline than the industry’s overall 17.2 per cent decrease in the same period, indicating that local rivals may be chipping away at the company’s market lead as it remains under Beijing’s cybersecurity review.

The data, released by China’s Ministry of Transport on Friday, echoed earlier information from Shenzhen-based third-party data provider Aurora Mobile, which said Didi’s daily active users have dropped about 30 per cent since the company’s initial public offering in the US in late June.

Didi’s average daily active users decreased to 10.9 million in August from 15.6 million in June, while some of its smaller rivals either increased their user numbers or saw them fall by a smaller proportion, according to a report on Thursday by the Financial Times, citing data from Aurora Mobile.

Meituan Dache, the ride-hailing platform run by the country’s biggest on-demand local services provider, posted a 1 per cent decline in orders in August. Monthly orders for Shouqi Group-backed Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur dropped 25 per cent in the same month.

For Didi, the decreased orders last month show how its core business in the world’s largest ride-hailing market – with 493 million monthly active customers and 13 million active drivers – is starting to change, as it accedes to the rectification demands by China’s antitrust regulators. Didi incurred the ire of regulators when it rushed to raise US$4.4 billion from its IPO in New York, ignoring their warnings about network security.