The raid last week on an office of Uber Technologies Inc in southern China, part of a broader crackdown on illegal taxi services using private drivers, has inspired calls for the government to break taxi companies' monopoly on licenses to meet the growing need of for-hire vehicles in China.

The company behind the United States-based car-hailing app may have been operating without a business license and organizing private drivers to offer unlicensed taxi rides in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, local authorities said.

The Uber office was unable to provide a business license to officers when they raided the office last Thursday, the city's bureau of industry and commerce told China Daily.