Ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab are now legal in Malaysia after the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Bill 2017 was passed on July 27 by the Dewan Rakyat (lower house).

Ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab are now legal in Malaysia. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The amendments will have to be passed by the Dewan Negara (upper house) and obtain royal assent before they become effective.

Under the amendments, operators will be required to own an intermediation business license issued by a regulatory body. The licenses are renewable but operators will not be allowed to transfer them.

Continuing its market development strategy, US ride-hailing firm Uber has announced an investment of 6.85 billion pesos (340 million USD) to increase its number of cars in Mexico to 500,000, doubling current figure.

Meanwhile, Singaporean based Grab will mobilise 2.5 billion USD from Chinese Didi Chungxing and Japanese Softbank to battle Uber.

Grab currently accounts for 71 percent in the ride-hailing industry in Southeast Asia.

(Source: VNA)