Ride-hailing giant Uber now strives to expand its operations in India, which is one of the largest markets for the company. Post its exit from China, Uber has witnessed a tremendous growth in South Asian regions and has been directing resources and energy to drive growth further up. In a similar attempt, Uber now plans to open a new centre in Bengaluru, the kernel of India’s high-tech industry, reports ET.
The said centre will not only provide support to customers and drivers but also design and develop custom solutions as per the needs of the day to day passengers. The new Bengaluru centre will act as a regional hub for South Asian regions and handle operations for the country and nearby destinations. Uber presently has its
Uber presently has its centres in Hyderabad and one in Bengaluru itself. The Hyderabad centre works as support services provider while the present Bengaluru centre will now be swapped into the company’s engineering hub.
Uber previously announced that it will also invest an amount of $50 million over 5 years to house its largest global office, outside US, in Hyderabad. Hyderabad has also been the first city for the company to test its cashless payment system. Post this investment, Hyderabad will be the largest Uber office in the world outside the US as stated by Sidharth Shanker, general manager of Uber Hyderabad operations.
As a strong opponent against Ola, the company currently has its services in 29 cities and is further engaged in mapping more streets in the country. With India being a global priority, Uber also launched a variety of exclusive services including UberMoto, Fleet Management, the Business Segment etc. recently. Confirming the further investment in the nation one of the team members told ET,
While we can’t comment on specific expansion plans, we can confirm that we will continue to invest here as we see tremendous potential for the future of ride-sharing.
Uber’s app has recently been redesigned with new features being added such as cash payments, saving your often visited destinations, better mapping, support centre, etc. Apart from enhancing the app and facilitating the customers; visit of Cofounder Travis Kalanick, last January further revamped people’s confidence in the company. Kalanick had then vowed to invest $1 billion in India with an aim to double the initial investment if it sees more than five times the return.
Uber’s recently launched its services in Sri Lanka that are also handled by the company’s centre in Hyderabad. Amit Jain, Uber’s president for India and South Asia had previously expressed his views on the Hyderabad centre as,
We are investing in all aspects of the business.We have opened up a big support facility in Hyderabad, with around 350-400 people. The team in the country has grown significantly from 100 people 12-months-ago to 800 people now.
