MOBIKE IN ME-RACE

MOBIKE, one of the world's biggest bike-sharing companies, is doing away with deposits for all customers in China, amid a fierce battle to win users.

Existing users will be able to get refund of their deposits as the as the company's service also gets integrated into Meituan platform, Mobike, said after a $2.7 billion takeover of the bike company in April by Meituan, China's largest, provider of on-demand online services.

"The move is designed to establish a no-threshold, zero-burden and zero-condition deposits free standard for the entire bikesharing industry, Mobike said in a statement.

The company is also launching  e-bikes  that can run up to 70 kilometers per charge at a top speed of  20 km/hour.

Mobike collected a 299 yuan {$45} deposit from each user in China, which makes up a majority of its 200 million users globally,.

The company is competing with Alibaba backed Ofo, which also counts ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing as a major investor.

The  two-bike sharing companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors but have waged a costly war of subsidies in a bid to win the Chinese and overseas markets. [Agencies].