There are a few thousand Uber cars in Ho Chi Minh City, which collectively wire around VND1 billion (US$44,643) worth of profit to its parent company in the Netherlands on a daily basis, the municipal transport department has revealed.

The whopping sum is about 20 percent of the revenue Uber generates in the southern Vietnamese metropolis, where it now has some 4,000 drivers, according to deputy director of the department Le Hoang Minh.

The Vietnamese business of Uber, mostly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is overseen by Amsterdam-based Uber B.V.

However, the Dutch firm would never register to operate as a taxi firm in Ho Chi Minh City, Minh said.

The Vietnamese unit of Uber, in the meantime, only registers as a marketing firm for the car-grabbing service, he added.

Even though it is hugely supported by local riders, the Uber operation in Vietnam remains a headache for regulatory bodies as they are confused about how to treat the company in a legal manner.

In Ho Chi Minh City, many departments and agencies have said Uber is going against the law, and they are consulting the transport department on how to report the issue to the municipal administration.

Meanwhile, it is obvious that the city’s taxi sector is not happy to see Uber cars ‘stealing’ their customers.

The Ho Chi Minh City Taxi Association has maintained that Uber is breaching the rule and creating unhealthy competition with local cab operators.

The inspectorate under the city’s transport department has so far booked some 200 Uber cars for not having a license to operate as a taxi, as well as failing to display the required badges and signs.

The municipal taxman has also said Uber had not declared any tax for its operations in the city.

Uber has been present in Vietnam since June 2014, currently operating only in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Riders have to book a ride via the Uber app, with the complete fare automatically billed to their credit cards at the end of a ride.

In August 2015, the service began accepting cash as cashless payment is not widely common in the Southeast Asian country.

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