Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Uber unleashes $1bn war chest to crack Indian market

Fiendish domination plans follow a billion big ones thrown at China

Uber is to throw $1bn (£642m) of investment into the Indian market, in an apparent attempt to blast incumbent "sharing economy" taxi biz Ola out of the water.

As the company clearly won't be investing in any physical infrastructure, the war chest will presumably be going toward an aggressive advertising and marketing campaign.

Amit Jain, president at Uber India, said of the plans: "Uber has grown exponentially in India, a global priority market for us, which has also quickly become the largest market geographically for Uber outside the US. We are extremely bullish on the Indian market and see tremendous potential here. India is one of Uber's big priorities, along with China and uberPOOL."

He said the $1bn would go toward expanding Uber's Indian operations, developing new products and establishing "a great support network".

"We are continuing to see robust 40 per cent growth month-on-month and with more investment in product, hiring and payment solutions, we expect to grow at an even faster rate," he added.

In June the biz said it would invest $1bn (£642m) in the Chinese market. It followed a merger between China's most popular taxi hailing companies Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache in February, valuing the new outfit at $9bn (£5.78bn).

According to the Financial Times [paywall], the Indian incumbent service Ola operates more than twice as many daily rides than Uber in more than 100 cities.

Ola is on the brink of closing a fundraising round and recently raised $400m (£269m), valuing it at $2.4bn (£1.54bn).

One of Ola’s financial backers, who asked not to be named, told the FT: “It’s obviously an attempt to intimidate potential investors in Ola’s next round. But it won’t work. Ola is going to have plenty of money to fight back.”

Furthermore, Uber has already run into trouble in the Indian market. In February one of its drivers was accused of raping a passenger, which led authorities in New Delhi to issue a temporary ban on the service. ®

 

Similar topics

Similar topics

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like