Hyderabad to be Uber India’s HQ, will spend $50mn on its biz here

Online taxi-hailing company Uber is going to set up its centre in Hyderabad and will invest around $50 million (Rs 317 crore) to train its drivers and customer support staff in India.

The US-based company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Telangana government. It plans to hire about 500 people to this facility in the next 5 years, reported the Economic Times.

Moreover, its India customer support team already operates out of Hyderabad.

Uber will also collaborate with Telangana Academy for Skills and Knowledge to train over 2,000 drivers by the end of 2016, who will then drive on its platform, ET cited a statement by the company on Monday.

In April, Uber appointed Amit Jain, a former top executive at US-based Rent.com, as its first India head, signaling that it was betting bigger on India, its largest market outside the US.

Uber, which competes with Ola and Meru in the country, has been expanding aggressively in China and India as it globally bets on emerging markets to drive growth and business opportunities.

Early in July, the company began operations in Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Indore, Mysore, Nagpur, Surat and Visakhapatnam, taking its total presence in the country to 18 cities.
(Image: Reuters)