Rickshaws advertising products of Coke, Bisleri, Dena Bank and Priya Gold? Yes. Sammaan, a Delhi-based organisation, has launched rickshaws that will do so.

These rickshaws are owned by the organisation but are driven by persons found eligible by Sammaan. Rickshaws have been given for free. The entire earning from the rides goes to the rickshaw driver while the profit from the sales of water, soft drinks, etc, gets shared between Sammaan and the driver.

The organisation gives the driver free uniform, identity card, bank accounts and an insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh. However, the driver needs to pay a maintenance fee of Rs 10 a day for the rickshaw. A passenger travelling in a cycle rickshaw can now have the luxury of sipping a Coke or Pepsi apart from listening to music via a headphone while he travels.

Moreover, he also gets an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. In addition, these rickshaws are becoming an effective way of advertising and brand promotion for companies and are an emerging trend in outdoor media. The good news is that the fare charged for a ride in these rickshaws is the same as in a regular rickshaw.

"We are also in advanced talks with Zandu Pharmaceuticals, Coca Cola and Dabur, and are hopeful of getting advertising contracts from them," said Irfan Alam, director of Sammaan.

The organisation expects Rs 10,000-15,000 a year from a single rickshaw. It has signed a contract worth Rs 1.26 crore with Priya Gold to advertise its brands on 1,500 rickshaws for a period of one year.

Sammaan currently has about 100 rickshaws running in Noida and Ghaziabad, and another 100 in Patna. By February, it will have rickshaws running in Agra, Meerut, Gurgaon and Chandigarh.